LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.? 



^^M 1^.3 

i \S3S 

UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 



BRAFT 

OF 

A SIEYISE® €4^MM®]¥ S€II®®fi E,A^ 

AND OF A LAW 
RELATIVE TO THE PREPARATION OF 



WITH 



EXPLANATORY REMARKS, 
^ND A SET OF DISTRICT REGULATIONS. 



PREPARED BY 



'5 ' 



Read in Senate, Jan. 15, 1838. 



HARRIS BURG: 
PRINTED BY E. GUYER. 

1839. 



<! 




COMMUNICATION. 



■■^•■m V ^^i p ^ Hf I 



To C. B. Penrose, Esq. 

Speaker of the Senate of Pennsylvania. 

Sir : — In his last annual report to the Legislature, as superinten- 
dent of Common Schools, the undersigned look ihe liberty of pro- 
posing to prepare and submit at the present session, the draft of a 
revised common school law, containmg all the provisions of the exis- 
ting acts of Assembly disserving re-enactment, with such alterations, 
amendments and additions, as his experience should dictate. The 
members of that session having seemed to favor this offer by refrain- 
ing i'rom a general revision of the law, and only making the few 
amendments then proposed by the superintendent, he has since felt 
encouraged, and in a manner authorised to fulfil the intention. He 
now presents, in the shape then proposed, the work of most of his 
leisure moments during the last two months, and the offspring of all 
his experience and warmest wishes for the good of the system. 

Attached to the bill will be found explanatory remarks on it, sec- 
tion by section, designating the parallel parts of the existing laws, 
and giving the reasons for such changes or additions as are intro Juced. 

The bill contains about double the number of sections to be found 
in all the existing school laws. This, on reflection, will not probably 
be thought objectionable. It will be recollected that A^hen directors 
and other school officers meet in performance of their duties, they are 
not generally in possession of the pamphletlaws nor of a Digest. It is 
therefore desirable so to frame the school law, as to embrace with- 
in itself clear and precise directions for carrying all its own details 
into effect. This, of course, has added many provisions, and conse- 
quently sections that were omitted from former acts. 

The arrangement of the law is also entirely changed. It is sepa- 
rated into general divisions, each embracing, under a comprehensive 
and expressive head, all the law on one particular branch of the sub- 
je'^t. This will obviate the necessity of marginal notes, and will 
render reference to any particular part a matter of great facility. — 
But in thus changing the arrangement, the old phraseology has not 
been unnecessarily departed from. In fact, the admirable frame 
work presented by the act of 1836, will be found with very little ex- 
ception, to be contained in the one now presented, and to form the 



strong skeleton which has only been filled out and clothed with the 
requisite detail. 

In framing the explanatory remarks the undersigned endeavored, in 
as few words as possible, to give his reasons, drawn from three years 
administration of the system, for the changes proposed. He is prob- 
ably mistaken in several of his conclusions, and if so, his hope is that 
the superior intelligence of the legislature may correct the uninten- 
tional errors. But if he dare, without the appearance of presump- 
tion, he would entreat that no part of the bdl may be changed or 
omitted without a clear conviction of its impropriety. If the reason 
for any of the provisions now proposed, be not at once obvious, or 
even if its unfitness be not certain, but only doubtful, he would ask 
that it shall not be hastily rejected. The bill is the work of one mind, 
and all its parts have been adapted, so as to depend on each other 
with great closeness. It may easily, therefore, happen that the omis- 
sion or alteration of one provision may mar the consistency and effi- 
cacy of the whole. If the reasons given for any change be not suffi- 
cient to conviction, the defect wih more probably be found in the 
ability of the undersigned to state them properly, than in the conclu- 
sion itself, for let it be borne in mind, that each conclusion is the re- 
sult of actual experience. 

Whatever may be the fate of the bill, the undersigned feels that he 
has performed his duty in framing it. It embodies all the results of 
his experience and knowledge on the subject, and he feels assured 
will be received, whatever may be its defects, as the sincere offering 
of an ardent friend of the noble system to which it relates, 
' During the year just closed, the superintendent also fulfilled ano- 
ther promise made in the last annual report. He alludes to the pre- 
paration of a set of regulations or by-laws for the government of the 
districts and scliools. These were partly compiled from the regula- 
tions or resolutions in force in the different districts and transmitted for 
that purpose tn the superintendent, and partly derived from his own 
experience and reflections. The mass of regulations received from 
the different boards was found to be so voluminous, that he could not 
himself find time to arrange and collate them. He was, therefore, 
compelled to resoit to the general power given to him by the act of 
1837, cm the subject, and employ additional assistance. Out of the 
regulations thus digested, he, with decreased labor, composed a very 
full and tolerably complete series. These were printed in large num- 
bers, and a sufficiency sent to each board to enable one to be put up 
in every school house, after having been corrected or changed to suit 
the circumstances of each district, or the more enlarged knowledge 
of its board. It appears from recent accounts, that they have very 
generally been adopted. A copy is hereto appended for the informa- 
tion of the legislature 

The whole expense, exclusive of postage, was about $430, viz — 
clerk hire $130, and printing $300. 

The other operations of the system and of the office during the 



year, will be explained in the annual report. That document can- 
not possibly be prepared before the middle of February. The district 
reports, embracing as they do the operations of the schools up to the 
first inst., are now only coming into the office, and will not be all re- 
ceived before the first of next month, after which period it will re- 
quire some time to complete the tabular statements. The report must, 
therefore, be prepared by the successor of the undersigned. 

Without intending to forestal any of its statements, the present su- 
perintendent may be permitted to say that, at the present moment, 
of the ten hundred and twenty-seven districts in the state, eight 
hundred and seventy-five have accepted the system. In these there 
are at least five thousand schools, and two hundred and thirty 
thousand scholars, and that the cost of instruction since the system 
commenced is decreased to nearly one half what it was before the 
common school system began to difiuse its blessings. 

To have aided in producing these results is most gratifying, and to 
the legislature the greater portion of the pleasure belongs. No sugges- 
tion has been made for the improvement of the system to them in 
vain. And while the present superintendent lives, he will remember 
with gratitude and pride the generous and unwavering support af- 
forded to his feeble attempts to perform his duty and perfect the sys- 
tem, under all circumstances, and m generous disregard of all minor 
matters or conflicting feelings. 

In retiring from his present position, he would make one more 
draft on the confidence of the legislature. It is, that the bill No. 2, 
in the accompanying communication, entitled " An act to provide for 
the establishment of institutions for the preparation of common school 
teachers," may be passed at the present session. 

If this be granted, and the subject of the bill be properly laid be- 
fore the people and their representatives, at the next session, he has 
no fears for the result. Institutions for the preparation of teachers will 
then be established. The system will thus be in possession of the 
means of almost indefinite improvement. It will then contain within 
itself the principle of its own safety — of its own independent and per- 
manent existence, and cannot retrograde. Give it teachers, then — give 
it good, moral, permanent teachers, and the system is complete. — 
This is the settled conviction — it is the final advice of 
Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

THO. H. BURROWES, 
Superintendent of Common Schools^ 
Secretary's Office, ) 

HarnsburgjJan. 15, 1839. C 



lilili Mo. 1. 



AN ACT, 

To consolidate and amend the several acts relative to Common 

Schools. 



I. Districts — New Districts. 

Section 1 . Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen- 
tatives of the Commontpealth of Pcnnsylvnnia^ in General Assembly 
met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same. That 
«ach and every township, borough and ward, in the state, (except 
in the city and incorporated districts of the county of Philadeip!)ia,) 
that has a separate assessor and collector of county rates and levies, 
shall constitute and be a Cuimnon School district ; and each and 
every borough which is or shall licreafter be connected v,ith a 
township in the assessment and collection of county rates and 
levies, shall, with such township, form one school district. 

Sect. 2. When a new district shall hereafter be formed, either 
by the division of a township, the separation of a borough from a 
township, the incorporation of a borough with an assessor and col- 
lector of county rates and levies, or by any other means, such 
new district shall not be considered and recognized as a separate 
and independent Common School district, until after the termina- 
tion of the current school year in which said separation or creation 
into a new district took place, and until it have a full board (f di- 
rectors regularly elected or appointed, and organized, except that 
the directors thereof shall have authority to levy, assess and col- 
lect tax, prepare school houses, and do all other acts necessary to 
the commencement of teaching for the ensuing year. 

Sect. 5. The balance of Common School funds on hand or due 
to an old district or districts out of which any new district shall be 
formed, shall, at the end of the current school year in v/hich the 
separation takes place, and after all existing claims against such 
old districts shall have been paid or allowed for, be distributed 
among the whole number of districts affected by the separation or 
formation of, and including such new district, in such proportions 
that each shall receive so much of said balance, as, and no more 



than, would have been expended for Common School purposes 
within its proper bounds if no separation had taken place; which 
balance shall be ascertained and distributed by the tovvnsliip or bo- 
rough auditors, for the current year, of the old district or districts, 
at a meeting to be held at such place and time as shall be appointed 
by the directors of the old district, of which each of said auditors 
«hall receive two weeks' written notice, and for which he shall be 
paid by his proper township in the same manner as for auditing the 
township accounts, and the said auditors, in settling said school 
accounts for the purpose of ascertaining and distributing said bal- 
ances shall possess and exercise all the powers, and be subject to 
all the provisions pertaining by law to township or borouarh audi- 
tors, in the auditing of township or borough accounts. 

II. Acceptance and Retection. 

Sect. 4. In every district which shall not have accepted the 
Common School system, or which shall have regularly rejected it 
after acceptance, the citizens thereof, when assenabled to choose 
directors, shall, annually during such rejection, vote on the ques- 
tion of accepting or continuing to reject the same, and those in 
favor of accepting shall vote a ticket on the outside of which shall 
be written or printed, the words ''Education," and on the inside 
the words, " Common Scfiools,^^ and those opposed to acceptance, 
a ticket with the vvord •' Education," on the outside, and the words 
<'JVo Common Schools,^^ on the inside; and when all the votes 
polled shall have been counted, the judges of the election shall 
make out, sign and seal three returns thereof, which shall be by the 
constable or other officer holding said election, delivered, one to 
the directors of the proper district, one to the county commission- 
ers, and one to the court of quarter sessions of the proper county, 
within ten days after said election, which election shall, in all 
other respects, be held and conducted in the same manner and by 
the same persons as that of directors ; and '\t the legality of said 
election be contested by any ten qualified voters of the district in 
writing, the said court of quarter sessions shall, at the next term 
after such election, examine into the same and either confirm or 
set it aside as may seem just and proper; and if set a.-ide, said 
court shall order a new election on not less than two weeks' pub- 
lic notice in the usual manner by the proper officer. 

Sect. 5. If a majority of tickets polled as aforesaid, contain the 
words, " no schools," then the Common School system shall not go 
in operation into the district during the year ensuing such elec- 
tion; and the commissioners shall continue to provide for the edu- 
cation of the poor children thereof, under the act of Assembly pas- 
sed the fourth day of April, 1809, entitled, ♦' An act to provide for 
the education of the poor gratis," and the supplements thereto. 

Sect. 6. But if a majority of the tickets contain the words 
*• Common AWtoo/*," then the system shall be accepted and put 



into operation in the tlistrictby the proper directors thereof, withal! 
convenient despatch, and in accordance with the provisions of this 
act ; and the commissioners shall, upon receipt of" the return of the 
election showing a majority for the system, cause the means by 
them in use for the education of the poor gratis, to cease in the 
district, and shall estimate the balance of the tax collected there- 
from, for (he education of the pnor gratis, for the current year, and 
then remaining unexpended, and refund the same for the use of 
the Common School system, to the treasurer of the district, on an 
order to that effect, signed by the president and attested by the 
secretary of the board of directors ; and no tax for the education 
of the poor gratis, shall thereafter be assessed on such district, by 
said comnjissioners. 

Sect. 7. In the year one thousand eight hundred and forty, and 
every third year thereafter, the directors of any district having ac- 
cepted the system at any previous election, shall, if they deem it 
expedient, call upon the qualified citizens thereof, by printed or 
written notices, signed by the president and attested by the secre- 
tary, and put up at least two weeks previ-jus to the election, at not 
less than six public places within the district, to decide by ballot, 
at the usual time and place of electing directors, whether the sys- 
tem shall be continued in operation or not. At which election 
those in favor of the continuance of the system shall vote a ticket 
with the word ''Education" on the outside, and the words "Com- 
mon Schools" on the inside, and those opposed to it, a ticket with 
the word '"Education" on the outside, and the words "No Common 
Schools." on the inside ; which vote shail be counted and three 
returns made thereof by the judges and constable in the manner 
described in the fourth section hereof; and in all other respects 
the election directed by this section, shall be held and conducted 
in the same manner and by the same persons as the election for di- 
rectors ; and if a majority of the votes actually polled be in favor 
of continuing the system, it shall be continued in operation till reg- 
ularly discontinued in accordance with the provisions of this sec- 
tion ; but if the majority of votes actually polled, be opposed to the 
system, then it shall cease and be discontinued as soon as the funds 
on hand shall be expended, and the laws for the education of the 
poor gratis, shall revive and be put into operation in the district by 
the county commissioners, until such time as the citizens thereof 
shall otherwise decide, in accordance with the third section of this 
act. 

Sect. 8. When there shall be debts due for Common School 
purposes by any district that shall discontinue the system, in ac- 
cordance with the provisions of the seventh section hereof, and at 
the time of such discontinuance, the directors of such district for 
the time being, shall have power and authority to levy thereon dur- 
ing the year next succeeding such discontinuance, a tax sufficient 
to discharge such debt?, which tax shail be levied, assessed and 



collected in the mode provided in this act for the levying, assessing 
and collecting of school tax in accepting districts. 

Sect. 9. When the system shall have been discontinued by any 
district under the provisions of the seventh section hereof, all 
School houses, lots and other property belonging to the directors 
thereof, for the use of the district, shall vest in and remain the pro- 
perty of said directors and their successors annually for that pur- 
pose elected, and shall be by thera so applied and made such use 
of as will best promote the progress of learning in their district, 
until the system shall be again accepted and put into operation 
therein, when they shall be applied by said directors for the use 
of the Common School system, in the same manner as before the 
rejection thereof, subject always and without detriment to the rights 
of primary and secondary districts, and of third persons. 

III. Election, Appointment and Expulsion of Directors. 

Sect. 10. Two Common School directors shall be elected an- 
nually in each district of the State, whether it shall have accepted 
or rejected the system, who shall be qualified citizens of the dis- 
trict for which they are chosen, and whose term of office shall be 
three years. 

Sect. 11. In districts composed of townships alone, the direc- 
tors shall be chosen at the time and place of electing supervisors 
and constable; in districts composed of boroughs or wards alone, 
they shall be chosen at the usual place of electing the borough offi- 
cers, and at the time of electing supervisors and constable in the 
townships of the State, if there be any election held in such 
borough or wards on that day, but if not, then on the day of elect- 
ing borough or ward officers; and in districts composed of town- 
ships or boroughs together, they shall be chosen at the time and 
place of electing supervisors and constable for the townships con- 
nected with such boroughs, at vviiich time and place the citizens of 
the boroughs shall vote with those of the townships; and said elections 
shall all be hald in the same manner and by the same persons as 
elections for supervisors and constables, or borough or ward offi- 
cers as the case may be. 

Sect. 12. In districts in which directors shall not before have 
been elected, six qualified citizens shall be elected directors at the 
first election, of whom the two highest in vote shall continue in 
office three years, the two next highest two years, and the two 
lowest one year. But if more than two shall have the same num- 
ber of votes, the class to which they are to belong shall be deter- 
mined by lot, and be entered on the minutes of the proper board. 

Sect. 13. Whenever a new district is tormed, the directors of 
the old district out of which it was taken, shall hold their offices 
and continue to act as directors of the district in which they reside,, 
after the separation, during the term for which they were sever- 
ally elected. If three or more than three reside in one of the 



10 

districts aifected by the separation, they shall fill their board by 
appointment u> the number of six, till the next election, uikI if 
less than tliree reside in either district, then they shall give notice 
of that lact to the constable or proper officer of the distric, who 
shall call a meeting of the citizens in the usual manner, and to be 
held on such day as they may designate, at wh ch the requisite 
number of directors shall be elected to till the board, who shall 
respectively hold their offices during the terms for which those ia 
whose steads they shall be elected would have held them, and ihey 
shall be classed in the mode described in the twelfth section hereof. 
Sect. 14. J)uplicate returns of all elections for directors shall 
be inade out, signed and sealed by the judges and delivered by the 
constable or proper officer thereof, one to the proper board of direc- 
tors, and the other to the court of quarter sessions of the county, 
within ten days' thereafter, and each person elected a director, shall 
be notified thereof in writing within five days' after the ele. tion, 
by the constable or other officer who held the election; and it the 
legality of any election for directors be contested in writing by not 
less than ten qualified citizens of the district, the said court is here- 
by authorized and required forthwiih to exaniine into the election 
and to confirm or set it aside as shall seem just and proper, and if 
set aside, to order a new election at the usual place and in the 
usual manner, on not less than two weeks' public notice by the 
proper officer. 

Sect. 15. Each board of directors shall have power to fill any 
vacancies that may occur therein, by death, resignation, removal 
from the district or otherwise, by appointments to continue till the 
next succeeding annual election and no longer, at which time such 
vacancies shall be filled by election ; but if the number of direc- 
tors be at any time reduced to les'* than three, then such vacancies 
shall be filled in the mode prescribed in the latter part of the thir- 
teenth section hereof. 

Sect. 16. If any person or persons duly elected a director or 
directors shall neglect or refuse to attend a regular meeting of the 
proper board after having received one week's written notice from 
the Secretary to appear and perform the duties of his or their of- 
fice, or shall appear but refuse to be qualified; or if any person or 
persons, having taken on him or them the duties of his or their 
office,shall subsequently neglect or refuse to attend any two regular 
meetmgs of the board in succession, or to act in his or their official 
capacity when in attendance, the directors present in either case 
shall have power to declaie the seat of such person or persons va- 
cant, and, if three directors are present and concur, to appoint others 
to serve in his or their stead, till the next regular election, but if 
less than three are present or concur, then to cause the vacancy or 
vacancies to be filled in the mode prescribed in the thirteenth sec- 
tion hereof. 
Sect. 17. Whenever all the members of any board of directors 



11 

^f an accepting district, shall refuse or neglect to perform their 
dutif's, and to put or keep the svslem in operation so far as the 
Cleans of the district will admit, the court of quarter sessions of 
ihe proper county shall, upon co-mplaint in writino;, and sworn to 
t)y any ten taxablecitizens of the district, and on due proof thereof, 
declare the seats of sucii recusant or negligent direct(»rs vacant, 
and appoint others in thei-r stead till the next annual el^'ction for 
"«?irectors. 

iv. organizark)n, officers, meetings and minutes ot thk 

Board. 

Se'^t. 18. Annually, and within twenty days' after the election 
t)f directors, each board shall be organized by the choice of oflRcers. 
■But before th<: election of officers each new member of the board 
shall be sworn or affirmed by one of the old members, or by a jus- 
lice of the peace or alderman, to perlorm the duties of the office of 
Coinmon Sch(v®ldiractoi,during the term fer which he shall hav« been 
•elected, according to law and with fidelity, to the best of his skill 
•and ability ; which oath w affirmation shall be entered on (he 
minutes of the board, and be subscribed by the meu)ber swearing 
or »ffirmin§ and attested by tiie member, justice of the peace ©r 
alderman who ad ministered it. 

Sect 19. The officers of each boaid shali be a pmsideBt a-ad 
secretary, who shall also be members of the board, and sl^all 
continue in office till the first regular meeting of the board afte«' 
the next succeeding annual election of directors, or until their suc- 
cessors are duly chosen, and a treasurer who shall not be a mem- 
t»er of the boanl, and whose term of office sL-all be the same au 
that of the pres^ident and secretary. / 

Sect. 20. 'Each board of directors shall hold at feast four stated 
meetings in «ach year, which shall be on the last -Saturdays sn 
March, June, September and December, or on such other days a« 
tl>e board may determine, at the place of electing directors t'm- the 
district, and such other meetings as the circumstances of th-e dis- 
trict may require^ which other meetings shall be held at the times 
and places to which the board may adjourn ; and the president and 
■secretary may call additional 'meetings,by at1east«ne week's written 
notice to each member, at such time and place as the notice shall 
specify. But if less than four members attend any meeting, no 
business shall be transacted thereat, except that of adjournment to 
some time and place to beagreed on by the Tnembers present, and o*" 
■expulsion and appointment, or of notice to constable for new elec- 
tion, under the thirteenth and sixteenth sections &( this act. 

Sect. 21. Regular minutes of all the acts and proceedings of 
each board shall be kept 'by the secretary thereof, in a book pro- 
vided for that purpose, and «hall be read aloud to the board by the 
-secretary at the end of each meeting, and then be signed by th« 
Resident and secretary; aad said minutes, ^w a copy thereof, c€r- 



12 

ti&ed to be correct under the hands and seals of the president and 
secretary for the time being, shall be conclusive evidence of the 
acts and proceedings of the board in all judicial proceedings ; and 
gaid acts and proceedings thus recorded, shall be binding on said 
district, and valid to all intents and purposes, so far as they are in 
accordance with the lawful powers and duties of the board. 

Sect- 22. A copy of so much of the minutes as he shall require 
shall be furnished to any citizen who may demand the same at any 
meeting of the board, which shall be certified as aforesaid, and for 
which he shall pay the secretary one cent for every line theresf, 
containing ten words. 

V. PowEus \m> Duties of the Officers of the Boakd. 

Sbct. 23. The president s^hall preside at the meetings of the 
board; call extra meetings wiien necessary; issue the duplicate and 
warrant for the collection of the di5<trict tax to the c©lleetor; take 
sufficient bond from the district treasurer for the faithful discharge 
of his duty ; sign the certificate of the assessment of the district 
tax; sign all orders issued on the district treasurer by order of the 
board; sign the annual report of the district to the superintendent; 
sign the minutes of the proceedings of each meeting ot the board at 
the termination thereof; and generally do and perform all other 
acts and duties lawfully pertaining to the offiee of the president 
of the board, fur which he shall receive no compensation what- 
ever. 

Sect. 24. The secretary shall enter full minutes of all the pro- 
ceedings of the board, in a book provided for that purpose and read 
and attest them at the termination of each meeting; have the care 
and cu^todjr of tne book of minutes and of all other papers and docu- 
ments belonging thereto and to the board; prepare the duplicate 
of School tax; keepan account of all abatements and exonerations 
made by the board ; prepare, attest and forward to the superinten- 
dent the annual certificate of tax ; p-repare and attest all orders 
on the treasurer, and other documents signtd by the president;: pre- 
pare, attest and forward to the superintendent the annual report of 
the district; and d6 and perform all other acts and duties lawfully 
pertaining to the office of secretary of the board, for which he shall 
receive such moderate compensation as the board may determine. 

Sect. 25. If the regular president or secretary shall absent 
himself from any meeting of the board, or, being present, shall 
refuse to perform any of the duties of his office ; in either case a 
president or secretary, pro tempore, shall be appointed by the mem- 
bers present, for the occasion, and a note thereof entered on the 
minutes ; and the acts necessarily performed by such president or 
secretary jD7'0 tempore, during such meeting, shal'l be as valid and 
binding on the board and district, as if they had been performed 
by the regular officer of the board. 

Sect. 26. The treasurer shall give bond to the President, for 



13 

the use of the district. In such amount and with such surities a^ 
shall be approved by the board, for the faithful performance of his 
duty ; receive all state appropriations, district tax, and other funds 
of the district; pay thereout all orders of the board signed by the 
president and attested by the secretary ; settle iiis accounts annu- 
ally before the township or borough auditors, in default of which 
he shall not be re-appointed ; pay over the balance to his successor 
in office without delay ; and generally do and perform all acts and 
duties lawfully pertaining to his office as district treasurer, for 
which he shall be entitled to retain such a percentage on all the 
moneys actually in his keeping during the year, as uiay have been 
agreed on by the directors and specifieil in his bond. 

Sect. 27. If a treasurer, having sufficient funds in his hand*, 
ijhall at any time refuse for two weeks to pay an order rf the board 
signed by the president and secretary, he shall be liable, on proot 
thereof before the nearest justice of the peace or alderman, and 
without stay of execution, to pay the full amount of said order, 
and interest at the rate ol twelve per cent, per annum thereon, 
from the iirst refusal till the day of payment, by way ot damages, 
and the whole costs of the suit or proceeding, v/hich interest and 
cost shall not be allowed him out of the funds of the district on set- 
tlement of his accounts^ but if, on hearing before the justice of 
the peace or alderman, of which the treasurer shall have live days' 
written notice, he shall show to the satisfaction of said justice or 
alderman, that he had not sufficient funds of the district in his 
hands to pay the order, then he shall not be liable to pay the amount 
of such order, interest, nor costs, but the costs of such suit or pro^ 
ceeding, including those that he may have necessarily incurred ia 
his detencc, shall be paid by the opposite party. 

VI. General Powehs and Duties of the Board, 

Sect. 23. The board of directors of every district which ishall 
have adopted the system, shall possess and exercise the foJlowing 
powers and perform tlie following duties, when such district is not 
sub-divided and laid ofT into primary or secondary districts ; and 
when it is so sub-divide<l and laid off, they ^hall retain and exer- 
cise such of the powers and perform such of the duties as are not 
hereinafter expressly delegated to, and enjoined upon pritnary or 
secondary committees^ together with the other powers and duties 
"•ivenand enjoined by this act, or necessarily incident to their 
character as directors and the good of the system. 

K They shall establish a suiilcient number of Common Schools 
for the education of every individual between the ages of five and 
seventeen years in the district, who may apply for admission and 
instruction, either in person or by parent, guardian or next friend; 
but persons under the age of five, and over the age of seventeen 
years may be admitted into the schools by permission of the board, 
>or o'. t'.ie proper primary cr secondary committee when there is one. 



2. Thej shall caose the schools of their district to be kept opera 
for instruction at least six months ia each j'ear, if they shall have 
funds for that purpose. 

5. Tliey shall su'b-divide the distrj-et into primary districts 
when they shall deem it expedient, in such manneras shall prsmote 
the convenience ot the youth thereof, and the good of the system. 

4. They shall locate all school houses ia such manneras the- 
.egulations or by-IWs of the district may provide, and- shall not 
abandon' nor change the locatitms tnepeof, vvithout good cause, and 
the consent of a majority of the parents of the children attending 
the schools respectively. 

5. The}' shall cause suitable lots to be purchased or rented, and 
buildings to be erected, purshased or rented for school houses and 
kept in repair, and shall larni-h the houses M'jth proper seats, 
desks and father conveniences and apparatus for teaching, and sup- 
ply ihpm vyith stoves and fuel. 

6. They sliall examine teachers vyho may appl'y for employment, 
either by the board, by confimitlee or by other persons appointed 
for that purpose, vvho shall give to each teacher found qualified, a 
certificate setting forth t!ie branches he or she is capable of teach- 
ing, wliich shall be signed also by the President and attested bj 
the secretary. 

7 . Thej" shall employ all the teachers of the Common Schools of 
the district by written contract vi'ith the president, fix th« amount 
of teachers' salaries, am! dismiss incompetent, crael, negligent, or 
immoral teachers at the end of any month. 

8. They shall adopt and cause to be put up in each school' house 
a general system of rules or by-laws for the regKslation of the dis- 
trict and the scho )Is. 

9. They shall determine and direct what books shall be used 
and wb;it branches shall be taught in the schools. 

10. Tiiey shall by one or more ol their number viisit every school 
in the district at. least once in each month while open, and shall 
cause the result of such visit to be ensered on the minutes, and the 
quarterly reports of the primary committees or teachers to be filed 
therewith. 

11. They shall esercise a general and constant supervision over 
the Gsmmon gchonls of their district, and adopt every proper 
means to promote tiie free, equal and useful instruction of the 
jouih thereof at the smallest possible expense. 

12 'n>ey shall desr2;nate (he school into which each pupil shall be 
admitted; except when the district is sub-divided itfto primary or 
secondary districts, in which ease each pupil shall attend the school 
of his own primary or secondary district. 

IS- They shall suspend d'uring pleasure, or expel during the 
current school year, from school, all pupils found guilty, on full 
hearing, of incorrigibly bad conduct, and shall enter such suspen- 
sions and expulsions, with the causes thtreof, on the minutes. 



i5 

14. They shall pay all necessary expenses of the system by 
drafts on the district treasurer, issued by order of the board at a 
meeting thereof, and signed by the president, attested by the 
secretary and entered on the minutes. 

15. They sliall appoint the treasurer and collector annually, and 
shall determine the compensation of the secretary and treasurer. 

16. They shall levy, assess and cause to be collected the school 
tax of the district in the manner hereafter directed. 

17. They shall apportion the Common School funds of the dis- 
trict among the primary and secondary districts thereof, if it be 
sub-divided, in such manner and proportions as may be just and 
equal. 

18. They shall have power to purchase and hold the real and 
personal property which may be necessary for the establishn»ent 
and operation of the system, and the same to sell, alien and dis- 
pose of, for the good of the district, when it shall no longer be 
necessary for the purposes af^iresaid. 

19. In all cases where real estate is held by trustees or others 
for tlie general use ofa neighborhood as a school house or its ap- 
pendages, it shall be lawful for tlie said trustees or others, or the 
survivor or survivors of them, to convey the same to the directors 
of the proper district, and thenceforward the directors and their 
successors shall hold said property for the use of the Coiiimon 
School system in the district, and for the same term for which it 
was originally granted to said trustees or others, or their prede- 
cessors. 

20. Whenever any controversy or difficulty shall occur in the 
boaril or in the district, requiring the official action of the super- 
intendent, they shall make out, at a regular meeting of the board, 
a full statement thereof, and transmit the same, signed by the 
presiilent and attest(Ml by the secretary, to the superintendent for 
his advice or decision, as the case may be, and shall also enter 
such statement at length on the minutes. 

21- I'hey shall annwidly, on or before the first Monday in Oc- 
tober, make report to the superintendent, in such form as shall be 
prescribed by him, of their operations and of the condition of their 
district during the year ending on the first Monday of the pre- 
<;e(iing September. 

22. Sc'iool directors shall not receive any pay or emolument 
whatever for their services as such ; but they and Common School 
teachers shall be exempt, during the time they continue to perform 
the duties of their respective offices, from military duty and from 
serving in any other township, borough or ward office. 

23. No director, during his continuance in office, shall be 
teacher of a Common School or contractor in the employment of 
the board to build a school house, or to do any other work or duty 
for which he is to receive compensation. Nor shall he be the bail 
or surety of the district treasurer. 



16 

VII. Primary Districts, Committees and Schools. 

Sect. 29. Each district shall, if the directors thereof deem it 
expedient, be sub-divided into piiniary districts, each of which 
shall contain one, or not more than t\vo primary schools. The 
bounds of each primary district shall be entered on the minutes of 
the board, and shall not be altered except with the consent of the 
primary committee thereof, and at a full meeting of the board. — 
Neither shall the sub-division of the districts be abolished, except 
with the consent of a majority ot the citizens of the district ascer- 
tained at a public meeting, convened by the board for that purpose, 
or .by writing signed with their names and addressed to the board. 

Sect. 30. The qualified citizens of each primary district shall, 
on the last Saturday in each school year, (except in the first in- 
stance, when the election shall be held on such day as the directors 
may designate,) elect by ballot three citizens thereof, to be the 
primary committee for the ensuing year; which election shall be 
held at the school house of the primary district, on notice to that 
effect, put up at not less than six public places in such distiict for 
two weeks previous to such election by the committee of the pre- 
vious year, or by any three citizens thereof, at which election two 
of the citizens of the district, chosen for that purpose by tlie citi- 
zens present, one as inspector and the other as clerk, shall open 
said election at two o'clock in the afternoon and conduct the same; 
and when all the votes shall have been received, shall declare the 
three highest in vole elected, and, within five days, make re- 
turn thereof in writing to the secretary of the board of directors of 
the district, and give notice in wilting to the primary committee 
80 chosen of their election. 

Sect. 31. In case the citizens of any primary district refuse, 
fail, or neglect to elect a primary committee on the proper day, 
the board of directors of the district shall, at their next meeting 
thereafter, appoint three citizens of such primary district to act as 
the committee; and the persons so appointed shall possess all the 
powers and perform all the duties ot a committee elected by the 
citizens. 

Sect. 52. The primary committee shall select the teacher for 
their district, subject to examination and approval by the board of 
directors ; fix the time of opening the school for the year; admit 
pupils; visit the school by one or more of their number at least 
once in each week ; provide fuel ; make repairs to, and have the 
custody and charge of the school liouse ; make a quarterly report 
to the board of directors showing the number of scholars with tt)e 
condition and progress of the school ; and generally attend to all 
the local concerns of the sub-district, subject to the acivice and 
control of the proper board : and for all necessary expense of fuel 
and repairs, they shall exhibit their accounts to the board, who 
shall pay the amount by order on the treasurer in the usual manner. 



17 

VIII. Adjoining District, German Endowed and Congrega- 
tional Schools. 

Sect. 33. Whenever any portion of the youth of any accepting 
district cannot be conveniently accommodated in the primary 
Common Schools thereof, on account of their great distance from 
the school house, or of difficulty in access thereto, caused by creeks, 
rivers, mountains, or the want of roads, and when such youth can 
be conveniently accommodated in the primary Common Schools of 
an adjoining accepting district, it shall be the duty of the directors 
of such two adjoining districts, whether they be in the same or in 
different counties, to enter into an arrangement by which such 
youth shall be admitted and instructed in the most convenient 
school of the adjoining district j and for their instruction the board 
of the proper district shall pay the board of such adjoining district, 
by order in favor of the treasurer thereof on their own district 
treasurer, such sum or sums as would have been expended for the 
instruction of such youth, if they had attended the primary school 
of their proper district; in consideration of which, they shall be 
permitted to attend the school or schools of such adjoining district, 
so long as the money thus paid shall defray the expenses of their 
instruction therein, according to the prices and regulations thereof, 
and no longer, if such school or schools shall be so long kept open 
for the instruction of the resident youth thereof, but not otherwise. 
Sect. 34. Or, the directors of such adjoining districts may es- 
tablish a primary district or districts, composed of such parts of both 
districts as require the connexion, and build or otherwise provide 
a school house therein; the expense of which house and of main- 
taining the school in operation, shall be borne bj the board of such 
adjoining districts jointly, in such proportions as may be agreed on 
by them in writing; and the citizens of such primary district shall 
elect a primary committee therefor, in the manner directed in the 
thirtieth section hereof, who shall exercise the same powers as 
other primary committees, and be subject alone to the control of, 
and the school to visitation by, the board of directors of that dis- 
trict which shall contribute the greatest amount to the expenses of 
such school. 

Sect. 35. No arrangement or contract made under the thirty- 
third section hereof, shall be terminated or rescinded except at 
the end of a school year, and after at least six months written no- 
tice, signed by the president and secretary of the board, desirous 
of terminating or rescinding, expressing their desire to do so, and 
delivered to the president or secretary of the other board ; and no 
primary district formed in accordance with the thirty-fourth sec- 
tion hereof, shall be abolished, except by consent of a majority of 
the citizens thereof expressed in wiiting to the board of both dis- 
tricts, or by the votes of the majority of the citizens, given at a 
public meeting called for that purpose on not less than two weeks 
written notice by the primary committee thereof; and in case of 

2 



18 

separation, the district in wiuch the school house remains .shall 
pay to the other a reasonable coiisirleration for its interest therein. 

Sect. 36. In districts or primary districts whose citizens speak 
the German language, the directors shall establish schools in which 
the exercises shall, it suitable teachers can be procured, be either 
wlioliy or in part conducted in that lanojuage as said citizens may 
desire ; and in all cases in whicii it shall be desired by the parents 
of the children j the teachers shall be qualified to give instruction 
both in the English and German languages, if a suitable teacher 
caa be obtained of sufficient qualification in other respects. 

Sect. 37. When any school of the primary Common School 
grade is, or shall hereafter be endowed by bequest or otherwise, 
the proper board of directors shall have power to appropriate so 
much of the district funds to such school as they may think just 
and reasonable, so long as they shall believe the good of the dis- 
trict promoted thereby ; and said school shall remain under the im- 
mediate direction of the regularly appointed trustees of the same; 
but shall be open from time to time, to "the visits of the directors of 
the proper district, to see that it is conducted in conformity with 
the Common School system of the commonwealth, so far as the 
same is applicable thereto. 

Sect. 38. When there shall be any accepting district, a free 
school of the primary Common School grade, maintained by and 
under the care of a congregation or religious society, it shall be 
lawful lor the directors of the district to pay towards the support 
of such school, to the trustees or others having charge thereof, any 
portion of the school funds of the district which they may deem 
just and reasonable, so long as they shall be satisfied that such 
payment is not injurious to the Coumion Schools of the district ; 
and so long as said school shall be conducted in accordance with 
the Common School system of the commonwealth : so far as the 
same is applied thereto, and so long as it is open to the visitation 
of the directors from time to time. 

IX. Secondauy Districts, Committees avd Schools. 

Sect. 39. Whenever the committees of not leas than two nor 
more than four adjoining primary districts, shall desire to estab- 
lish one school therein for instruction in higher branches than those 
taught in the primary schools, and when the expense thereof can 
be borne without reducing instruction in such primary schools to 
less than six months in each year, they shall unite in an application 
to that effect to the proper board of directors, who, if they approve 
thereof, shall appoint a committee of not less than two directots to 
act with one member of each of said primary committees, who to- 
gether shall locate such secondary school house, adopt a plan for 
its construction, arrange the proportion of the expense of building 
the house and maintaining the school in operation, to be paid by 
each primary district, and determine the number of pupils to be 



19 

■sent to it by each primary district; and the whole expense of suci* 
secondary school shall be borne by the ])rimary districts at whose 
application it was established, and be paid by the directors in the 
usual manner out of t!ie proportions ef the district funds coming to 
«uch primary districts. 

Sect. 40. Eacli secondary school shall be visited by a committee 
■composed of one member from the committee of each primary dis- 
trict within its bounds, one of whom shall visit it at least once in 
each week, and while acting on the secon<lary committee shall be 
relieved from performing any of the duties of primary committee 
men. They shall employ and determine the salary of the teacher 
subject to the approval of the board; admit the pupils; select the 
school books; provide stoves and fuel; keep the school house in 
repair and retain the charge and control of it ; make a quarterly 
report of its condi'tion to the board of directors ; and have the gen- 
eral control of the school. 

Sect. 41. No pupil shall be admitted into any secondary school 
who shall not be a resident of the proper secondary district, and 
who shall not have passed such an examination before the proper 
■secondary committee as to satisfy them that he or she is fitted for 
admission by having acquired all the branches taught in the pri- 
mary schools, except in the case of pupils who shall have actually 
passed through one of the primary schools of the proper district, 
and who shall produce a certificate from the directors tothat eftect, 
in which case such pupils shall be admitted into the secondary school 
without examination ; but no new pupils shall in any case be ad- 
mitted into a secondary school except on the first Monday of tlie 
•quarter. 

Sect. 42. For the purpose of encouraging the establishment of 
secondary schools and of thus promoting tbe higher branches of 
learning in every part of the commonwealth, the superin-tendent is 
"hereby authorized and required to add annually, the sura of fifty 
dollars to the state appropriation of each district, fur each and 
every secondary school therein, which shall have contained not less 
than twenty-five pupils, constantly engaged in fhe study of the 
proper branches of a secondary school, during not less than six 
months of the next preceding school year; which facts shall be 
certified to him by the proper board of directors in the same man- 
ner and at the same time with the annual certificate of tax; and 
:the said appropriation of fifty dollars to each secondary school in 
the district shall be applied to the use thereof by the directors, 'by 
drafts on the district treasurer in the usual manner, without any 
increase of tax on the district in consequence of the receipt thereof. 

X^ Bran<;hes or Study. 

Sect. 43. The branches to be taught in each primary Common 
School shall be, when competent teachers can be obtained, reading, 
»!yritiiig and arithmetic thoroughly, the rudiments of grammar, ge- 



20 

ography, history, drawing and vocal music, with strict attentfon 
to moral culture and general deportment, or such of the aforesaid 
branches as naay be suitable to the age and advancement of each 
pupil. 

Skct. 44. The branches to be taught in each secondary school 
shall be a more thorough course of grammar^ geography, history, 
drawing and vocal music than in the primary schools, with con^ 
tinued and careful attention to moral culture and general deport- 
ment; composition, bookkeeping, mathematics, the principles of 
surveying, astronomy, aatural history and chemistry, together 
with careful instruction in the history and 'government of this 
State and the United States ; and such other branches as the pro- 
per secondary committee may direct. 

XI. State AppKOPRiATiaN akd Taxables. 

Sect. 45. There shall hereafter, annually, be paid by the State 
Treasurer to the treasurer of each accepting district in the com- 
monwealth, upon an order signed by the superiatendent in favor 
of such district treasurer, the sum of one dollar for each and every 
taxable inhabitant thereof, in full of all state appropriation or funds 
in aid of primary Common Schools, for the current year; which 
order shall be issued as soon after the first Monday in September 
in each and evQiy year, comoiencing on the first Monday in Sep- 
tember, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, as the certifi- 
eate of tax hereinafter described, shall have been furnished to said 
superintendent. And the like amount of appropriation shall be 
paid annually to the county treasurer of the city and county of 
Philadelphia, in aid of the free schools thereof, on application by 
said treasurer, and in like manner as in the case of a Common 
School district, except that no certificate of tax shall be required. 

Sect. 46. When any district shall, for the first time, have ac- 
cepted the system, previous to the first day of November, one 
thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, the superintendent shall, 
at the time of issuing the order for the appropriation of the cur- 
rent year, also issue orders. for any appropriation that may be un- 
drawn in the State Treasury, for the use of such district for any 
preceding year or years, under former acts and resolutions of the 
General Assembly ; but on the said first day of November, one 
thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, the portions of State ap- 
propriation of that and former years, intended for all the districts 
which shall not then have accepted the system, shall revert to and 
be paid into the Common School fund, created by the act of As- 
sembly of the second day of April, one thousand eight hundred and. 
thirty-one, entitled *' An act providing for the establishment of a 
general system of education," and no district shall ever there- 
after draw in any one year, a greater portion of State appropriation 
to Common Schools, than may be due to it, as appropriation for, 



21 

and of each and evevj year during which it shall have been an 
accepting district. 

Sect. 47. When making out the order on the State Treasury 
for the State appropiiaticn in aid of the primary Common Schools 
in any district that contains one or more secondary Commow 
Schools, the superintendent shall add to the amount of such order, 
the sunj of fifty dollars for each of such secondary schools, he 
being first certified of the existence, number of pupils, course ot 
studies, and duration of teaching within the next preceding year, 
of such secondary school, which appropriation to secondary schools 
shall not cause ar.y increase of school tax on the district receiving 
it. 

Sect. 48. It shall be the duty of the commissioners of every 
county in the State, to ascertain triennial ly, with (he assistairce of 
the respective assessors, the exact number of the taxable inhabi- 
tants of each district in their sevetal counties, and' to certify the 
same, under their hands and seals of office, to the superintendent, 
who is hereby directed to adopt the number of taxables thus certi- 
fied as the basis of distribution of State appropriation to the pri- 
mary Common Schools in the manner aforesaid ; v/hieh said certi- 
ficates shall be prepared and transmitted so that they shall reach 
such superintendent on or before the first day of June in every 
third yea'", the irst to be transmitted in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and thirty-nine; and if the commissioners of any 
county neglect or fail to forward such certificate® so that they shall 
not be received on said first day of June, in any third year, the 
superintendent may, in that case, adopt th-e. number of taxables 
set torth in the nest preceding certificate or return, for the pur- 
pose of ascertaining the portions of State appropriation coming to 
the several district.^) of such county^ Said commissioners shall 
also cause to be published, in not less than two weekly newspapers 
in their proper county, if there be so many printed therein, for three 
weeks in the Faonth of June, in every third year aforesaid, a list 
of all the districts thereof, with the whole number of taxables in 
«ach, ascertained as aforesaid, that the citizens thereof may know 
the amount of their appropriation for the next three years. 

Sect. 49. Whe-never a new district shall be formexl in any 
county, it shall be the duty of "the commissioners thereof, to cer- 
tify to the superintendent, before the commencement of the next 
succeeding school year, the number of taxable inhabitants therein, 
and also the number in the district or districts from which it was 
taken, separately, according to the last preceding triennial enu- 
meration of taxables made for school purposes, so that the whole 
number in such new district, and in that or those out of which it 
was taken, being added together, shall neither be greater nor less 
than the number that was tlierein before the change was made, and 
according to the la«t triennial certificate or return of taxables there- 
for, made by said commissi oners«. 



22 

1. Levy, Assessment, Certificate and Collection of TaX»> 

Sect. 50. The ?cliooI directors of every accepting district shalt 
ennuallj, during acceptance, on or before thetirst Monday in May^ 
and by the votes of not less than three members of the board, levy 
such an amount of tax on their district as they may think necessary 
for common school purposes for the next ensuing school year; 
which tax shall not in any case be less than equal to, nor more 
than double the amount of the State appropriation to primary Com- 
mon Schools comin-g to such district for tlie next year. 

Sect. 5U For the purpose of raising any tax that may be deem-' 
ed ncQcssary by the directors for the support of the system for the 
ensuing year, in addition to the amount authorixed by the preced- 
ing section hereof, they shall call a meeting of the qualitied voters 
of the district by written notices, signed by the president and sec- 
retary, and put up at least two weeks prior to such meeting, at not 
less than six public places therein, in which notice the amount of 
tax levied by the directors themselves, and also the additional 
amount deemed necessary by them, siiali be stated ; which meeting 
shall be held on the third Saturday after the t>rst Monday of May 
aforesaid, at two o'clock in the afternoon, at the usual place of 
electing supervisors and constable, or borough or ward officers, the 
president of the board of directors acting as inspector, the secre- 
tary as clerk, and two of the citizens present as judges thereof; 
and the citizens of the district who are in favor of the proposed 
additional tax, shall vote tickets with the word "tax," written or 
printed on the outside thereof, and the sum proposed by the di- 
rectors in words at length on the inslile,^and those opposed to sucli 
additional tax, tickets with the word ** tax " on. the outside, and the 
words "no additional tax," on the inside; a return of which elec- 
tion shall be made by the judges thereof to the proper board of di- 
rectors forthwith ; and if the majority of votes actually polled be 
in favor of the proposed additional tax, it shall be assessed, col- 
lected and applied in the same manner and at the same time with 
the tax authorized with the preceding section hereof ; but if the 
majority be opposed to it, then no additional tax shall be levied,, 
assessed or collected for the ensuing year. 

Sect. 52. And for the purpose of enabling the board to assess 
and apportion the tax for the ensuing school year, the assessor of 
county rates and levies of the township, borough or ward, compo- 
sing the district^ shall, on or before the first Monday in June,, 
annually furnish the president or secretary thereof with a correct 
copy of the last adjusted valuation of property, subjects and things- 
taxable in the sarae^ for county purposes, together with a correct 
return or list of the amount and value of the personal property in 
the same, made taxable by the act of Iv/enty-fifth of March one 
thousand eight hundred and thirty one, entitled " An act assessing 
a tax on personal property, to be collected vvith the cottnty rates. 



23 

and levies, for the use of thecommonweukh," which personal prop- 
erty is hereby made taxable for schoal purposes according to the 
provisions of said act, except that it shall be taxed at the same 
rate on its valuation fur school purposes as real estate, and that the 
assessment shall be madebj the direclors as hereinafter directed; 
and it is hereby enjoined upon the commissioners of the several 
counties to cause the returns or lists of said personal property to 
be prepared by the assessors of county rates and levies, and fur- 
nished as hereinafter directed to the board of directors. 

Sect. 53. Whereupon the board of directors shall on or before 
the first Monday in July, annually proceed to levy and apportion 
the tax, including the additional tax if any shall have been author- 
ized, as follows, viz : They shall first assess upon all offices and 
posts of profit, trades and occupations, and upon all single freemen 
above the age of twenty one years who do not follow any occupa- 
tion, any sum which they shall deem proper and sufficient, not ex- 
ceeding, however, in any case, the sum wnich may be, during the 
current year, assessed on said officers, posts, possessions, trades, 
occupations or single freemen, respectively, for county purposes, 
except that the sum assessed on each shall in no case be less than 
fifty cents; and if there be any persons resident in said district 
who do not follow any known profession, trade or occupation, such 
persons shall be assessed at not less than fifty cents, nor more 
than five dolhirs each, according to justice and the discretion of 
the board. Having ascertained the amount thus assessed, the di- 
rectors shall in the second place assess and apportion the balance 
necessary to make up the whole amount of the tax to be raised, 
upon the property of the district taxable for county purposes, and 
on the personal property described in the act of the twenty-fifth of 
March, one thousand eiglit hundred and t!iirty-one, before recited, 
according to one and the same rate in both cases. But said act of 
the twenty-fifth of March, one thousand eight hundred and thirty- 
one, shall not be so construed as to make widows' dower liable 
to the payment of school tax. 

Sect. 54. When the whi)le tax is thus assessed and apportioned, 
the secretary shall make out, before the first of the following Au- 
gust, a correct duplicate of the same, and the president shall, on or 
before the first of September next ensuing, issue his warrant with 
the duplicate, to the district collector to collect the same; and the 
board shall have the right, at all times, to make such abatements 
or exonerations for mistakes, indigent persons, unseated lands, &c. 
as to them shall appear just and reasonable; and the secretary 
shall enter on the minutes the names of all persons in whose fiivor 
such abatements or exonerations were made, together with the 
reasons therefor; but no appeal from the assessment of the board 
shall take place or be held. 

Sect. 55. As soon as the president shall kave issued the warrant 
and duplicate to the collector, and not before, he shall certify the 



24 

same, with the amount of such tax both ordinary and additional, 
and the name of the district treasurer, to the superintendent, to 
enable him to issue the necessary order for the district portion of 
State appropriation. Said certificate shall also state that the bounds 
of the district have or have not been altered since the date of the 
certificate of the next preceding year, as the case may be, and shall 
be signed by the president and attested by the secretary and treas- 
urer of the district, alt of whom shall write the name oi his near- 
est post office under his own name ; and at the foot of said certifi- 
cate, a majority of the auditors of the township, borough or ward, 
composing the district, shall certify that the school accounts of the 
district treasurer who was then in office, were by them settled and 
adjusted according to law on the rej^ular day for such settlement, 
next preceding the date of the certificate. 

Sect. 56. I'hc collector of county rates and levies of the town- 
ship, borough or ward, composing the district for the time being, 
shall be district collector, if the board of directors approve of him ; 
and if, being so approved, and the warrant and duplicate presented 
to l^m, he shall refuse to receive them or having received them, 
shall refuse and neglect to collect the tax, he shall forfeit and pay 
the sum of twenty dollars and costs, to be recovered before a jus- 
tice of the peace or alderman of the district, at the suit ot the 
president for the use of the district, as debts of like amount are or 
shall be by law recoverable, without stay of execution ; and 
some other freeholder of the district, possessing a clear estate 
whicii in the opinion of the board shall be a sufficient guarantee for 
the faithful performance ot the duties of collector, shall, with his 
own consent, be appointed in the place of such collector of county 
rates, which freeholder being so appointed and having taken on 
him the duties of the office by accepting the warrant and duplicate, 
shall, if he afterwards refuse or neglect the tax, be subject to the 
like penalty as in the case of the collector of county rates, and so of 
every other person who shall consent to serve and afterwards refuse 
or neglect so to do. 

Sect. 57. No person shall be re-appointed collector of school 
tax, until he shall have paid over to the district treasurer the whole 
amount of his former duplicate, except abatements and exonera- 
tions ; neither shall any one be re-appointed or chosen a second 
time in any term often years, without his own consent ; nor shall 
any collector of school tax be required to give bond for the faith- 
ful discharge of his duty. 

Sect. 58. The district collector shall have like power to enforce 
the payment of school tax as collectors of county rates and levies 
have to enforce the payment of the same, and shall receive like 
compensation for his services ; and from time to time as the tax is 
collected, he shall pay the amount over to the district treasurer, 
and settle his duplicate with the board of directors on or before 
the time fixed upon therefor, in the warrant of the president. 



25 

Sect. 59. Whenever school tax assessed on unseated lands m 
any district, shall not be voluntarily paid by the owner or owners 
thereof, the district collector shall certify the same to the proper 
county commissioners, whu shall enforce the collection thereot with 
the taxes assessed on unseated lands for county purposes, and 
when so collected, shall pay the same to said district treasurer by 
orders drawn on the county treasurer. 

Sect. 60, It shall be the duty of the secretary, within three 
months from the day of delivery of the warrant and duplicate to 
the collector, to file a certificate signed by the president and at- 
tested by the secretary, in the office of the prothonotary of the 
court of common pleas of the proper county, stating the an^ount 
due and unpaid, at the date thereof, by the said collector ; and it 
shall be th.e duty of the prothonotary forthwith to enter the same 
on his docket; which certificate shall, from such entry, have 
the same operation and effect as a judgment of said court, and 
executions may be issued thereon in like m^^nner as on said judg- 
ment for the amount remaining unpaid at any time after the entry 
aforesaid. 

XlII. SErTLEMENT OF ScHOOL AcCOUNTS. 

Sect. 61. The accounts of the treasurer of each accepting dis- 
trict, shall be annually settled and adjusted by the auditors, for 
the time being, of the township composing such district, but if the 
district be composed of a borough or ward, by the proper auditing 
oflScers ol such borough or ward ; and when a township is embra- 
ced in the same district with a borough, the accounts of the treas- 
urer shall be audited and adjusted by the auditors of such township; 
which settlement shall be made at the time and place of auditing 
the accounts of the proper township, borough or ward. 

Sect. 62. In the settlement of school accounts, township audi- 
tors, and auditing officers of boroughs and wards, shall possess and 
exercise the same powers, and perform the same duties as are given 
to, and enjoined on them by the laws regulating the settling and 
adjustment of their respective township, borough or v/ard accounts^ 
except that they shall not officially examine into the proceedings 
or conduct of the board of directors, but shall confine their exam- 
ination to the accounts of the district treasurer, as such, and 
shall allow him credit for every order of the board regularly made 
out, presented to him and paid by him, according to the provisions 
of this act. 

Sect. 63. The report of said auditors, setting forth the state of 
said treasurer's accounts and the balance for or against him, alter 
having been entered at large on the books of the proper township, 
borough or ward, shall be signed and sealed by said auditors and 
transmitted to the secretary of t'le district, by whom it shall be 
entered at large on the minutes j and if there be a balance against 
the said treasurer, the board may, if necessary, at any time within 



26 

three months from the day of settlement, cause <he secretary to 
tile the same in the office of the prothonotary of the court of com- 
mon pleas of the proper county, by whom it shall be entered on 
the docket in the same manner and with the same operation and 
effect as a judgment, as is provided in the sixtieth section hereof 
in the case of unpaid balances by collectors of school tax. 

XIV. School Year. 

Sect. 64. The Common School year shall hereafter be taken 
and understood to terminate on the last day of August annually, 
to wit : The present school year, which is the school year one thou- 
sand eight hundred and thirt}'-nine, shall end on the last day of 
August in that year, to which it is hereby extended, and the school 
year one thousand eight hundred and forty, shall commence on the 
day following, and so for all other school years. 

XV. Powers and Duties of the Superintendent. 

Sect. 65. The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall be ex-of- 
ficio, general superintendent of Common Schools of the State, 
for which he shall receive five hundred dollars per annum out of 
the State Treasury, and shall possess and exercise the following 
powers and perform the following duties : 

1. He shall decide, without appeal and without cost to the par- 
ties, all controversies or disputes that may arise or exist among 
directors of any district, between directors of adjoining districts, 
between primary or secondary committee and directors, or between 
collectors or treasurers and directors, concerning the duties of 
their respective offices ; the facts of which controversies or dis- 
putes shall be made known to hin^ by written statements by the 
parties thereto, acting in their official capacities, verified by oath 
or affirmation if rtquired, and accompanied by certified copies of 
all necessary minutes, contracts, orders or other documents. 

2. He shall, whenever required, give advice, explanation, con- 
struction, or information, to the officers of the system and to citi- 
zens, relative to the Common School law ; the duties of Common 
School ofiicers; the rights and duties of parents, guardians, pupils 
and all others — the management of the schools and all other ques- 
tions and matters calculated to jiromote the cause of education. 

3. He shall cause to be paid, by orders signed by him and coun- 
tersigned by the school clerk, in tavor of the treasurer thereof, to 
each district, the amount of State appropriation to which it may be 
lawfully entitled, as soon as, but not before, he sliall have been 
furnished with the certificate described in the fifty-fifth section 
hereof. 

4. He shall prepare blank forms for the annual district reports, 
with suitable instructions and forms for conducting the various 
proceedings and details of the system, in a uniform and efficient 
manner. 



27 

5. He shall prepare and submit to the legislature, annually dur- 
ing the first week in January, a report up to the last day of the next 
preceding August, containing a full account of the condition of the 
Common Schools, the expenditure of the system during the year, 
estimates of the sums requisite for the ensuing year, the whole 
number of pupils, the cost of teaching each, the number of 
accepting districts, plans for the improvement of the system, 
and the school houses and all other matters relating to the system 
and to the duties of his office, that he may deem useful or proper 
to communicate. 

6. He shall enter or cause to be entered in proper books, pro- 
vided for the purpose in his office, all the decisions, letters, orders 
on the State Treasury and other acts, as superintendent; and to 
assist in the performance of his various duties, he is hereby autho- 
rized to employ and retain a school clerk at a salary of one thou- 
sand dollars per annum, and such additional assistance as may be 
actually requisite. 

7. He shall cause to be published at the seat of government on 
the first Monday in every month, a periodical sheet of the 

size and in the form, to be called the "Common School 

Assistant," one copy of which shall be sent gratis and post-paid 
monthly, to each president, secretary and treasurer of every ac- 
cepting (ii-^trict in the commonwealth ; in and through which he 
shall publish all his official decisions as superintendent, insert a 
list ot all orders on the State Treasury for appropriation issued to 
district treasurers during the preceding month ; reply, as far as 
practicable, to all inquiries made to him ; and communicate all 
forms of reports, with instructions and other official documents 
required by the different districts; and the rest of the columns of 
said monthly paper shall be filled with such matter connected with, 
and calculated to throw light upon the subject of general educa- 
tion, as he may from time to time write or select. 

8. And said " Common School Assistant," so conducted and 
published, is hereby constituted, and shall be recognized as an 
official paper, and all the decisions, documents and acts of the su- 
perintendent therein printed and published with his name attached 
to them, respectively, shall be taken and recognized in alljudicial 
proceedings, and at all times as his official decision?, documen 
and acts, in the same manner as if they were actually signed \vi 
his name and sealed with the seal of his office. 

9. And all moneys reasonably and necessarily expended by him 
in the performance of his aforesaid duties, shall, upon due proof 
be allowed to him by the auditor general, and paid by the State 
Treasurer out of any money therein not otherwise appropriated. 

XVI. Confirming and Repealing Sections. 

Sect. 66. School directors and all other officers of the system 
elected or appointed under the provisions of former acts, shall 



28 

severally hold their offices for during the terms for which they 
were elected or appointed ; all appropriations authorized by former 
acts and resolutions, whether by the state , or counties, or corpora- 
tions, shall be paid, and all taxes authorized for school purposes 
shall be collected, as they would have been paid and collected if 
this act had not passed ; and generally all contracts heretofore 
made, and every thing heretofore done in pursuance of acts and 
resolutions formerly passed, relative to the Common School system 
and funds, shall be held valid according to the terms and nature 
thereof, and consistently with the provisions of this act. 

Sect 67. All general acts and resolutions so far as they relate 
to Common Schools, passed and adopted since the passage of the 
act of the first day of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirty 
four, entitled "An act to establish a general system of education 
by Common Schools," including said act, are hereby repealed with 
the exceptions expressed in the sixty-sixth section of this act^ ex- 
cept also that the twenty-third section of the act of the thirteenth of 
June, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, entitled " An act 
to consolidate and amend the several acts relative te a general 
system of education by Common Schools," so far as said section 
relates to the management and control of the free schools of the 
city and county of Philadelphia, shall be and is hereby continued in 
force. 

Sect. 68. Immediately after the passage of this act, the super- 
intendent shall take measures to have it published in the " Com- 
mon School Assistant," the first number of which shall be issued 
on the first Monday of the month, commencing next after the date 
hereof, accompanied with such explanations and remarks as to him 
shall seem proper. 



BILIi No. II. 



AN ACT 

To promote the establishment of institutions for the preparation of 
Common School teachers. 

Whereas, the chief remaining defect of the Common School sys- 
tem of this commonwealth is the want of well trained professional 
teachers for the primary and secondary schools thereof, which, it 
is believed, can best be supplied by the establishment, at the expense 
of the State, of institutions for the thorough instruction of per- 
sons desirous of devoting themselves to the useful employment of 
teaching : And whereas, it is also believed that such institutions 
can be so established and regulated as both to accomplish the de- 
sirable end aforesaid, and to impart a free and thorough practical 
or business education to a large number of youth very much to the 
public benefit ; therefore, 

Sect. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the Commomvealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly 
met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority aforesaid, That 
be and is hereby appointed Commissioner, on the 
part of the Legislature for one year from the day of the passage 
hereof, to investigate the facts and subjects connected with the 
objects set forth in the preamble hereof, and by correspondence 
with, and yisiling similar institutions, by consulting persons con- 
versant with subjects relating thereto, and by every other means 
within his power, to collect full information and to make report to 
the Legislature, at its next session, within the month of January, 
which report shall embrace all the facts and opinions on the sub- 
ject of this act which he may deem useful for the information of 
ihe members of the Legislature. And all colleges, academies, 
seminaries, persons engaged in the education of youth, and all 
citizens of the State are requested and enjoined to aid and assist, 
by all means in their power, said Commissioner in the perform- 
ance of the duties assigned by this act, and so intimately con- 
nected with the common good. 

Sect. 2. Said Commissioner shall also state in his report the 
number of practical institutes which he may deem necessary for 
the whole State, and the number which, in his opinion, ought to 
be forthwith established, together with the cost of establishing 
each, and the annual expense thereof afterwards. He shall also 



30 

ascertain and report the places where said practical institutes may 
be established with greatest benefit to the people of the iState, and 
with least expense to the State Treasary. 

Sect. 3. Sdid Commissioner shall also accompany his report 
with the draft of a bill or act of Assembl}"^ for the establishment, 
government and maintenance of the practical institutes aforesaid, 
and for carrying into full operation the intention of this bill, and 
thereby completing the design of the Common School system of 
Fennsylvania, 



EXPLANATORY REMARKS 

ON BILL No. I. 



I. Districts— New Districts. 

Sect. 1, is taken from the first of the SchGol law of June, 1836, 
with a slight change in phraseology and none in sense. 

Sect. 2, is new and intended to obviate frequent and embarras- 
sing difficulties that have grown out of a defect of the existing law. 
Uncertainty as to the time when a new district should be recog- 
nized as such, gives rise to many appeals to the superintendent. 
Convenience and reason seem to dictate that the separation should 
only be completed at the end of the current year, when all exist- 
ing arrangements and contracts will have been terminated, and 
when the new district, with a full board, can commence operations 
easily and efficiently. 

Sect. 3, is new, and expressly provides a rule and mode for 
dividing existing balances of School funds between old districts 
and such new ones as may be formed out of them. The want of 
such a provision has frequently been experienced heretofore. 

IL Acceptance or Rejection. 

Sect. 4, is taken from the 13th of the School law of 18S6, to 
the main feature of which it adheres, with an addition prescribing 
the mode of making the returns of and deciding contested elections 
held under it. This was v.'holly omitted from all former acts, and 
seems to be indispensible. 

There is also another alteration proposed in the section. The 
elections for accepting are directed to be held by the same persons 
and in the same manner as that for directors. There was no 
good reason why there should be any diffr-rence ; and, throughout 
all the following sections of the bill, the principle of having all 
School elections, which admit of it, held on the same day, at the 
same place and in the same manner, with the township, borough 
or ward elections of the district, is adhered to. Any other course 
only renders the operations of the system complicated and diffi- 
cult, and burthens the people with a greater number of public 
meetings than are absolutely necessary. 

Skct. 5, is similar in principle with the provisions of the present 
law on the subject, which are to be found partly in the thirteenth, 
and partly in the sixteenth sections of the act of 1836. 



32 

Sect. 6. The first provision of this section Is taken from the 
thirteenth section of the act of 1836. The following provisions, 
except the last, are from the School law of 1834 (Sec. 6,) which, 
according to a fair construction of the act of 18S6, seems to be 
unrepealed. The object intended to be accomplished by this re- 
enactment, is one against which there cannot be the slightest 
objection. It is only refunding to the districts, the tax they paid 
under the old system for the education of the poor, but not applied 
to that object, that under the new system it may be so applied ; 
for under the new, the children of the poor are also taught at the 
public expense. The last provision of this section is inferred from 
the 1 6th section of the act of 1836, and is now the law by con- 
struction, though not by express word. 

Sect. 7, is taken from the latter half of the 13th section of the 
School law of 1836, and the 13th section of that of 1838, except 
that the time of election is changed to that of electing directors, 
for reasons above given, and the mode of making the returns of 
the election is prescribed. There is also a new provision, that 
Common School funds on hand at the time of rejection, shall be 
expended for Common School purposes. This seems reasonable, 
and some provision on the subject is necessary, as the present law 
is silent with respect to it. 

Sect. 8, is also new and indispensible; directors undoubtedly 
have the power to incur debts on the credit of their district for 
the necessary operations of the system, and they shi>uld be express- 
ly authorized to raise money to pay them, if it be discontinued. 

Segt. 9, is also new and only regulates the ownership of Com- 
mon School property, after rejection in such a way, that it shall 
still be used for the benefit of education, and be ready for use, if 
the system be re-accepted. The existing law is wholly silent on 
this point. 

HI. Election, Appointment and Expulsion of Directors. 

Sect. 10, is from the first half of the second section of the act of 
1836. The words " qualified citizens" are substituted foreper- 
sons," because, in some districts, persons not qualified citizens 
have been elected directors, to the dissatisfaction of the tax-payers, 
who are opposed to the exercise of the important powers of School 
directors, by any but qualified citizens. 

Sect. 11, is also taken from the second section of the act of 1836, 
with an additional provision, declaratory of the meaning of that 
section, in the case of districts composed ot boroughs or wards 
singly, or partly of boroughs or wards and partly of townships. In 
the former case, the second section of the act of 1836, has always 
been decided by the superintendent to mean, that if any election 
be held in a borough district on the general township day of elec- 
ting directors, the borough directors raust be chosen on that day ; 
and in the case of compound districts, that directors must be 



33 

chosen on the day of the township and not of the borough election. 
The reasons for this construction, were — 1st. That the time of 
election over the whole State might be as uniform as possible; and 
2d. 1 hat the question of tax and the amount of it, which under 
the present law is to be determined on or before the first Monday 
in May annually, should be settled with the consent of the neio 
directors of the year, but which could not be done if they are 
elected on the day of the borouiih elections, most of which are on 
or after the first Monday in May. For these reasons also, as 
well as to remove doubt, the law is now proposed to be made 
express on these points. 

Sect. 12, is taken from the second section of the act of 1836, 
with a different mode of classifying directors, intended to relieve 
the citizens voting from the trouble of stating on their tickets the 
term for which each candidate is voted for. 

Sect. 13, differs from the existing provisions of the law on the 
subject, as found in the second section of the act of 1836. It is 
there prescribed that six directors shall be chosen at the first 
election in every new district. There seems to be no good reason 
for this. On the contrary, it appears desirable that the directors 
in o.ffice for the old district, but residing in the new, should con- 
tinue to act, because it is fair to suppose, that they have acquired 
some experience. At all events, they must be better in foimed of 
the condition of the system and of existing contracts and arrange- 
ments, than persons just coming into the board. For these rea- 
sons, they are retained, and if more than three in number, the 
power is given to fill the board by appointment till next election. 
If less, the requisite number to complete the board are to be cho- 
sen at a special election. 

Sect. 14, is new and provides for returns of elections of direc- 
tors, together with the mode of contesting and setting aside illegal 
or informal elections. It also directs, that persons elected- shall 
receive notice of their election and the board be informed thereof, 
that the former may attend and the latter admit none but the 
persons duly elected. These provisions seemed to be indis- 
pensible. 

Sect. 15, is from the third section of the act of 1836, except 
that, when by the occurrence of vacancies, the board is reduced to 
less than three, the vacancies shall not be filled by appointment, 
but by special election. 

Sect. 16, is chiefly from the eleventh section of the School law 
of 1838 and was much needed. A great number of cases under 
the law of 1836 occurred, in which much difficulty and confusion 
were caused by persons being elected, but refusing either to act or 
resign. No power was previously expressly given by the law to 
deal with such persons as they deserved. It is now possessed 
under the act of 1838, and has produced the best effects. It 

3 



34 

should by all means be continued with the slight modification now 
proposed. 

Sect. 17, is taken from the fifteenth of the School law of 1838, 
and has been found to work well in practice. 

IV. Organization, Officers, Minutes and Meetings of 

BOARB. 

Sect. 18, is taken from the third of the School law of 1838, 
except the provisions relative to swearing or affirming members, 
which are new and very necessary. Many directors have hereto- 
fore refused to serve at all or resign, or have refused to perform 
particular parts of their duty, feeling free to do so, as they ac- 
knowledged, because they were not sworn. 

Sect. 19, is from the third section of the School law of 1838, 
with the declaratory provision that the Treasurer shall not be a 
director, which seems proper, the directors being the persons who 
appoint the Treasurer, approve his bond and cause all orders for 
money to be issued on him. 

Sect. 20, is chiefly declaratory of powers possessed, by reason- 
able construction under the old law, which powers are necessary 
to the proper performance of the functions of the board. The 
provision that there shall be at least four stated meetings in each 
year, is new and proper. In some instances, boards of accepting 
districts have fallen into the improper and unlawful practice of 
meeting very rarely and of permitting the powers of the whole to 
be exercised by each member in his own vicinity. It is proper 
also, that the board should meet at certain times and places known 
to the whole district, that ail who desire it may have an opportu- 
nity ot meeting them when in session. 

Sect. 21 and 22 are new, and necessary to preserve regularity 
in the proceedings of the board, and to give to them that authority 
and effect which the framers of the system evidently intended they 
ought to have. Heretofore, the directors exercised important 
powers, and yet there was no provision, giving the minutes of their 
proceedings any official character or effect in a court of justice. 
It is the object ef these sections, to supply the omission* 

V. Powers and Duties of the Officers of the Board. 

Sects. 23, 24 and26, only recapitulate the powers and duties of 
the officers, already possessed, or given by the other sections of 
this act, expressly or by necessary implication. They are brought 
thus together that they may be seen at one view and that each 
officer may clearly understand what he has to do, and that he may 
avoid interference with the province of others. Under the present 
law, it not unfrequently happens, that officers refuse to perform 
duties clearly incumbent on them, and necessary to the good of 
the system, because not expressly enjoined. 



35 

The proposition now made to pay the secretary and treasurer a 
reasonable compensation toi- the performance of their onerous and 
responsible duties, it is hoped, will be adopted. The M^ant of such 
a power in the board, has sometimes led to the employment of in- 
competent or unsafe persons. 

Sect. 25, is new and rendered necessary by the frequent in- 
stances that have occurred of presidents and secretaries opposed 
to the system, though in a minority in the board, absenting them- 
selves or refusing to sign the certificate of tax, or to do some other 
indispensible act, for the avowed purpose of defeating the fuither 
progress of the system in the district. It will also meet eases of 
unavoidable absence, though in such cases the power is already 
possessed by reasonable inference from the general powers of the 
board. 

Sect. 27, is also new and calculated to remedy a great mis- 
chief in the system. It has in some instances happened that trea- 
surers supposing that they could not be compelled to refund the 
school money in their hands, till the end of the year, and then 
only by suit on their official bonds, refused to pay the orders of 
the board, and thus vexatiously detained from them the money of 
teachers and others, A summary proceeding like the one describ- 
ed in the section, seems therefore necessary, guarded at the same 
time, in such a manner as to protect faithful treasurers against ma- 
licious suits. 

VI. Genekal Pov/pvas and Duties of the Board, 

Sect. 28, consists of a description of the general powers and 
duties of the whole board ofdirectors, in paragraphs. 

The first division of the section, together with paragraphs 2, 3, 
5, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 21 and 22, are taken from the 
third, fourth, eighth, and fourteenth sections of the school law ot" 
-18S6, with some alterations and additions, which are either so 
slight as not to require comment, or are explained elsev/here in 
these remarks. 

Paragraphs 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, IS, 17 and 20, though not to be found 
expressly enacted in any of the school laws in forcej re- 
late to powers and duties now exercised and performed under a 
reasonable construction of the existing laws. These, together with 
those embraced in the class just enumerated, are all deemed ne- 
cessary and proper to be continued and do not require anv fHrther 
remark. 

In the first paragraph, a change of some importance is introduced. 
It proposes to exclude all persons under five and oVer seventeen 
years of age, from the schools, unless by the actual consent of 
the board, or of the proper primary or secondary committee, when 
there is one. This provision has been frequently pressed on the 
legislature by the Superintendent in his annual reports, vv.her« f!j® 
reasons for it may be found at large. 



B6 

TTiere can be no danger in giving the control of this matter t& 
the local officers. The paragraph as it stands would in many cases<r 
l)e\ond a doubt, be productive of good,, and where the opposite 
eSect is feared or exists,, an exercise of the discretionary power 
given would obviate it. In towns» generally, and in nsiost country 
schools during summer, children under live years ought to be ad- 
tnitted,,and could be, under the proposed provision. But its opera- 
tion in excluding iheui from eountry schools in winter, which are 
frequently crowded with older pupils whose time is more precious 
and whose opportunity for impsroveraent is rapidly leaving them, 
would be invaluable. In another respect it "■"^ould be useful. Grown' 
up young men often frequent the Common Schools more tor pass- 
time in winter than improvement^ Teachers are sometimes unable 
to restrain them within the bounds of sound discipline, and have 
not, or dare not, exercise the power of. expulsion from the Com- 
tnon School — " the school open to all." Now, if grown up per- 
sons were only to gain admissioni, by ■permission of the directors 
or committee^ the propriety of submitting to discipline could be 
explained to them at the time, and a condition annexed to the per- 
mission that it should cease when abused,. 

The twenty-third paragraph, is entirely new,, and will have a 
happy effect. It sometimes happens, no doubt honestly and in 
good faith, that directors become coB'tractors to build houses, or do 
0t!ier work for the board, or act as teachers. But no matter hsw 
pure and honest the transaction may be, it gives rise to suspicions 
and jealoui^ies that are extremely injurious to the system. Common 
School directors, to be useful, must carry with- them the confidence 
of the people, and to retain thait confidence, must not even appear 
to pursue their own interest at the expense of that of the district. 
it is i!> this spirit that the provision is jecommended. 

The impropriety of a director, who is one of the bo&rd that ap- 
proves of the traftsurer'^s bail, and who may possibly be called on 
as director to decide the question of bringing suit orr the treasurer's 
bond, being himself that bail, is obvioirs. 

VII. Primary Districts, Committees and SchoO'LS..- 

Sect. 29, is taken chiefly from the eighth of the school law of 
1S36. The restrictions imposed on alterations of the limits of, or 
abolishing wholly the sub-division into primary districts^, are new 
and loudly called for. Directors- have frequently- reversed i»r 
changed -the arrangements. of their predecessors after school hauses 
were built, and other local arrangements or preparations made^ 
against the wishes of those immediately coacerned,, and often very 
much to their inconvenience, and to the injury of the system. Ther 
limitations now proposed, afford all the latitude requisite for the 
accommodation of the citizens concerned, while they take away 
all opportunity for oppression or capricious change. 

la this section, and throughout the whole bill, the term ^^ sub,^' 



S7 

^ins 136611 abandoned, and (hat of '•'^primary'''' adopted, whellier pi\> 
fixed ti) district, committee, or school. The word '■'■sub" decs not 
seem to be very applicable in either connexion, but the word "pri- 
mary" aptly expresse-i the idea intended to be conveyed. The 
primary school is thejirst school into which the child is to be ad- 
mitted — he then passes to the secandary or second, and thence info 
a higher. So of districts. And the committee of a primary dis* 
trict is properly the primary committee. But the phrase svb school, 
sub committee or siJ.b district, presents to the mind the idea of a 
dej^ree of subjection and of a species ot inferiority that do nor, real- 
ly exist. 

•Sect. 30, is from the eighth of the school law of I'SSS, witU 
SQch additional provisions as are absolutely necessary to make ifc 
easy and certain in operation. 

Sect. 31, only supplies an obvious omission in the pres<'nt law.. 
Without it, a failure to elect the primary committee, destroys the 
existence of the primary district. 

Sect. 32, is chiefly trom the eighth of tlie school law of 1836, 
and the fourteenth of that of 1838, with the addition of suc!» 
other powers as are either already possessed and exercised by in- 
ference from the general provisionsof those acts, or as are neoossary 
to render the agency of the committees useful and efficient. ]jy 
increasing the powers of prim-ary committees, who are in most 
cases d.rectly interested as parents in the welfare of the pupils 
committed to their charge, the powerful private feeling of love of 
offspring is made to aid in the performance of the public duty. 

VIII. Adjoining District — Gbrman, Endo\Ved and Cgxg;ie'- 
gational Schools. 

Si:cTS. 33 and 34, only express more fully, and carry out into 
detail, the provisions of the sixth paragraph of the eighth section 
of the School law of 1836, which have been found extremely boue^ 
fecial in practice. 

Sect. 35, is new, and intended to prevent embarrassment by 
eith'M- of the districts, party to the arrangement, putting an end to 
it without sufficient notice to enable the other to provide otlierwise 
tor the accommodation of the pupils concerned. This unfair prac-' 
tice has been indulged in. 

Sect. S6> is new in letter though it has been enforced in prac- 
tice, and is altogether jsist ii principle. 

Skcts. 37 and 38, are substantially and almost literally the same 
as the 17th section of the school law of 1836, and the 13th of that 
of lS38j which have both been found beneficial in practice. 



38 

IX. Sjlcowdary Districts, Committees and Schools. 

Sects. 39, 40, 41, are entirely new and unhesitatingly recom- 
mended. 

To bring the means of education within the reach of every child 
of the commonwealth, is the whole object of the Common School 
System. But to suppose that the province of the system is con- 
fined to the mere rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic, is to 
take a very narrow view of it. These fundamental branches are, 
it is admitted, necessarily to be Jirst bestowed, but the instant a 
full provision is made for their general inculcation, it becomes the 
duty of the guardians of the system to extend its scope, and in- 
jcrease its means of doing good, so as to keep pace with the higher 
demands of the public mind. 

It is the deliberate opinion of the Superintendent, that the aid 
given by existing laws to the primary grade of Common Schools 
is sufficient, and when accepted over the whole State, will place free 
and sound rudimental learning within the reach of all. It therefore 
seems to be the duty of the Legislature to encourage the estab- 
lishment of schools for instruction in the higher branches. This 
is the object of the sections under consideration. Such of their 
provisions as relate to the mode of establishment, support, and 
control of the schools, are consistent with the general character 
and details of the system as at present established. No additional 
offices are created, nor is there much additional machinery intro- 
duced into the system. 

The chief new feature, is the sum proposed to be given to the 
secondary school by the Commonwealth. It is hoped however that, 
on due reflection, this will be sanctioned. 

There are about oae thousand districts in the commonwealth 
which are, or will probably be divided into about six thousand 
primary districts. If the whole State were arranged into s^conda- 
nj (iistricis, each containing three primary districts, there would 
be two Ihouamid of the latter, which, at fifty dollars to each, would 
make the annual amount of secondary school appropriation amount 
to one liundred thousand dollars. 

But it will be several years before even otie half of the com- 
monwealtii will have secondary schools in operation, if the propo- 
sed sections be sanctioned. During the first year in all probability 
there will not be more than two hundred reported, requiring f 10,- 
000 from the Treasury; and if tv/o hundred be added to the num- 
ber every succeeding year, till the whole State is covered, it will 
be a more rapid extension of their benefits than is now anticipated. 
In this point of view, the immediate cost to the state vvill be slight 

the increase of it so gradual as not to out run her im.menseand 

growing resources — and the object accomplished invaluable. 

It may perhaps be objected that two thivasand secondary schools 
will form a very partial and inadequate provision for the whole 
State. There is no foundation for the fear. Primary districts are, 



39 

on an average, about three miles square each. Now if the secon- 
dary be composed of three primary districts, and the school house 
be placed about the centre, few of the secondary scholars will have 
to go more than three miles to school, and the great majority will 
be within two miles; and, when it is borne in mind that they will not 
consist of infants, but ot youth generally over twelve years of age, 
the distance will not appear too great, and the number of the 
schools will consequently be sufficient. 

These schools can be made to aid materially in the preparation 
of primary school teachers. Indigent young men may attend 
them and at the same time pursue their proper avocations, without 
being compelled to leave home. The}' can thus acquire such an 
education as to fit them, with a few months additional instruction 
in a higher institution, to be useful teachers, and in this way remu- 
nerate the State ten-fold for her liberality. 

Reasons in favor of the slight aid proposed to these schools 
might easily be multiplied, but they are supposed unnecessary. If 
it be true, as stated, that the present aid to primary schools is suf- 
ficient, and if it be also true (of which there can be no doubt,) that 
the growing means of the State will yearly afford a larger sum to 
the mental cultivation of her citizens than is at present given, then 
no more proper nor useful application of it can be pointed out. 
The sum proposed to be given to each school is small, but it will 
be an encouragement — a bounty — to induce Directors to turn their 
attenticm to the subject. This is all that is now required, and if 
the small boon be bestowed, the rich fruits will soon show the 
wisdom of the measure. 

X. Branches of Study. 

Sects. 43 and 44, are new, and it is presumed, proper. If the 
establishment of secondary schools be sanctioned, it will be una- 
voidably necessary to confine the primary within their proper 
sphere, by designating the branches to be taught in them, and to 
prevent the secondary from being crowded with pupils not suffi- 
ciently prepared to enter them, whose presence will only in- 
jure others without much benefit to themselves. Preventing the 
higher branches from being taught in the primary schools in all 
districts, including those in which there are no secondary schools, 
will also aid materially in promoting the establishment of the 
latter. 

Under any circumstances, however, it seems proper for the Le- 
gislature to designate the studies in Common Schools. There is 
no provision for this purpose in the existing law, and the con- 
sequence is extremely injurious. Some directors decide that the 
only branches to be taught are reading, writing and arithmetic, 
and thus deprive the pupils of much of the legitimate ad- 
vantages of the schools. While others wander to the opposite 
extreme, and enbrace all studies and branches, thus squander- 
ing the means of the system, and weakening it in its most ma- 



40 

terial and useful agencv, which beyond doubt is instruction in the 
rudimental branches. To find the proper medium and to bind all 
to its observance, must be the work of the Legislature. 

The reasons for the selection of the particular branches and 
studies embraced in the present bill, will be found in the last 
annual report of the Superintendent to the Legislature* 

Xr. State Appropriation and Taxables. 

Sects. 45, 46 and 48, embody the scattered provisions of the 
eleventh, twelfth, and part of the twenty-third, of the school law of 
1836, the first and third of that of 1838, and the joint resolution re- 
lative to undrawn balances of State appropriation adopted in 1838. 
They have been carefully framed so as to embrace, in a methodical 
shape, the whole law as it now exists. A few additions, nr.erely to 
complete the details, and conform this division of the bill to the 
changes recommended in the other parts of it, have been made, 
and will, on perusal, explain themselves. No change whatever 
is proposed as to the amount of State appropriation, except to se- 
condary school?,; as before explained. 

Sects. 47 and 49, are new, and relate to changes explained in 
other parts of these remarks. 

XII. Levy, Assessment, Certificate and Collection of 

Tax. 

Sects. 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57. 5S, 59 and 60, contain all 
the present law on (he subject of schoid tax, which may be found 
in the fourth, iifdt, sixth, seventh and twelfth sections of the school 
law of 1836, and in the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth of 
that of 1838, w';th some changes that require explanation. None 
of the sections are entirely new. 

The first alteration suggested (in section 50) is that of reducing 
the proportion of tax which may be levied by directors, without 
consent of the people, from Irtb/e to double the amount of the dis- 
trict's share of State appropriation for the year. The present 
large amount of State aid, enables this to be done, and perhaps a 
still further reduction, say to an amount equal to the State appro- 
priation, might be made with safety, as lias been recently recom- 
mended by the Executive. But it should be borne in mind that 
the system is yet in its infancy, and in many districts requires 
large expenditure, for school houses and aparatus; and that ihere 
is little danger in confiding the power of taxation to a body, one- 
third of whom are elected every year, and the members of which 
are themselves tax-payers, and accountable to public opinion. The 
power, to the extent now proposed, can never work oppression, 
and, while used with prudence, may often promote the best inter- 
ests of the district. Whereas, the restriction to an amount only 
equal to State appropriation, might often either cramp the opera- 
tions of the board, or compel the calling of a public meeting to 



4t 

authorize a larger amount of tax, the propriety of which would 
probably be denied by none. For these reasons, the larger pro- 
portion has been preferred and retained. 

There is an alteration proposed in the fifty-third section. It is, 
that the minimum amount of school tax to be imposed on offices 
and posts of profit, trades, occupations and single freemen over 
the age of twenty-one, who do not AjUow any calling, shall be fifty 
cents. This is deemed to be reasonable and cannot oppress any 
one. Offices and occupations are, more than any other, the proper 
objects of taxation for the support and spread of learning. The 
exercise of many of them is entirely dependent on, and that of all 
facilitated by the possession of a good education. This was the 
view taken by the framers of the existing law, school tax being 
now Jirst levied on these objects, and the balance only of the sum 
required, on property. This balance is generally the largpst por- 
tion of the whole amount, it is true, and will so continue, but it is 
just and proper that those callings, whose value is so much increas- 
ed by learning, and will hereafter be chiefly dependent on the 
Common School for that advantage, should c<mtribute a fair pro- 
portion of the expense of the system. A provision is also embra- 
ced in the section, calculated to meet the case ol persons who do 
not follow uuy known calling, but whose means will enable them 
to berr a part of the common burthen. 

lathe latter part of the fifty-fourth section, it is directed, that 
no appeal from assessment b)- diiectors shall take place. This is 
only declaratory v»f the present lavi', and is inserted to prevent an 
error, into which some have fallen, by supposing that in the case 
of sciiool assessments, there should be the same opportunity of 
appeal as in the case of assessment of county tax. But such per- 
sons do not advert to the fact, that directors' assessments are made 
on tlie valuation of property, &c. already "adjusted;" in other 
words, corrededby appeal before the County Commissioners. This 
being the case, there is no necessity for another adjustment of val- 
uation or second appeal. 

There are some additions to the certificate of tax proposed in 
section fifty-five. One is, that it shall state whether the bounds of 
the district have been changed since the last certificate. This is 
necessary to prevent a greater amount of appropriation from being 
paid to any district than it is entitled to; for, after division into 
more than one district, the old district will, as a matter of course, 
draw less money from the State th:in it did before. Another is, 
that the name of the district treasurer shall be signed by himself 
to the certificate, that when the order or warrant is returned to the 
State Treasury, purporting to be endorsed by him for payment, 
there may be an oppoitunity, when necessary, of ascertaining the 
genuineness of the signature, by comparison. The post offices of 
all the officers are required, that the superintendent may know 
how to address any communications he may have occasion to send. 



42 

And a statentifent is required from the proper auditors of the dis^ 
trict, that the treasurer's accounts of the preceding year have 
been settled. This is exacted for the purpose of introducing strict 
and regular accountability im.o every branch of the system, and to 
prevent payment by the Gommonweiilth, until it is known that the 
.former year's appropriation was properly applied and accounted 
for. These provisions are all new, 

_ The times of holding additional tax election, of furnishing the 
directors with a copy of the adjusted valuation of taxable pro- 
perty, of assessing the tax, of issuing the warrant for collection, 
and of transmitting the certificate of tax to the superintendent, 
are also changed, in order to suit the alteration of the commence- 
ment of the school year, proposed in another section, and hereafter 
explained. 

XIII. Settlement of School Accounts. 

Sects. 61 and 62, are amplified from a short passage in the ninth 
of the School law of 1836, but do not change its principle, except 
in the provision which confines the action of the auditors to the 
proper accounts of the District Treasurer. The condition of tliia 
officer, nnder the existing law, is sufficiently hard. He is in many 
cases, chosen without his own consent^ in all, works without pay; 
and is obliged to give bond with surety for tlie failhful discharge of 
his duty. Eut when, as in some districts, is added to all this, a 
refusal by the auditors to allow him credit for orders of the Board 
paid by him, but asserted by them to have been issued without 
authority or necessity, his situation is truly unenviable. He is 
either compelled to put up with the loss, or to incur the risk, vex- 
ation and expense of an appeal from the decision. It is to correct 
this mischief, that the provision under consideration is introduced. 

It is possible that directors do sometimes squander or misapply 
the district funds. Their punishments must however be left to a 
Court of Justice under the common laws of the land, and to the 
slow, though certain correction of public opinion. If they, chosen 
as they are by the confidence of their fellow citizens, to adminis- 
ter an honorable and most important public trust, cannot be them- 
selves trusted without an express and threatening array of pains and 
penalties, their honesty, compelled by such means, will be of 
little worth. At all events, to make the Treasurer the sufferer for 
their mistakes or ill-conduct, by compelling him, on the one side 
to pay all their orders, and on the other to run the risk of having 
some of them disallowed by the Auditors, should not be permitted. 

Sect. 63, is new, and merely confers on the Board the power 
of converting into a judgment the balance fairly ascertained to be 
in the hands of the Treasurer, if they think tiiat measure neces- 
sary for the safety of the district funds. 



43 

XIV. School yea«. 

Sect. 64, changes the commeucetnenf; of the school jear from 
the first Monday in June, as fixed bv the twenty-first of the school 
law of 1836, to t!ie first day of September. It will also be per- 
ceived, that the whole sciipa ot the bill contemplates t^e day 
now named as the starting point. This is desirable on many ac- 
counts. The first of .Tunc is not a suitable time. September is 
the most so. It will then be soon enough for the districts to re- 
ceive their State m-oney, to meet the expenses of fall and winter 
teaching. It will be th.e proper period to close the annual report. 
The schools are generally opened for the season in tliis month, 
after the harvest work is done, and the reports then made v.'iil con- 
tain the transactions of the whole preceeding year. The Superin- 
tendent will then be enabled to make the report to the Legislature 
during the first week of the session. Under the existing law, 
which requires the reports to embrace the operations of the dis- 
tricts up to the first of January, it is impossible to complete it 
before the middle of February. This prevents it from being printed 
and in the hands of members for examination and distribution, till 
they aro about adjourning. On account of these and other reasons 
which migi)t, if necessary, be named, the change has been intro- 
duced. 

XV. PoV/ERS AND DUTIES OF THE SUPERINTENDENr. 

Sect. 65, is all taken from existing laws, with slight variations, 
and the necessary declaratory additions, except in two particulars. 
The present law on the subject, is contained in the tenth section 
of the act of 1836, the joint resolution of April 3, 1837, relative 
to the school house fund, and the nineteenth section of the school 
law of 1838. 

The first exception is in the first paragraph, and extends the 
Superintendent's power of decision over disputes arising between 
all Common School officers. Heretofore it only embraced contro- 
versies among Directors, but the latitude now expressly given was 
in all cases conceded, and has been exercised as necessary to the 
prosperitjr of the system. It is better, however, that it should be 
conferred by the words of the law. It is also provided, that there 
shall be no appeal from the decision of the Superintendent. This is 
presumed to be only in accordance with the meaning of the present 
law, and if so, should be explicitly enacted. 

The other exception is contained in the 7th and 8th paragraphs, 
which relate to the periodical sheet directed to be published by the 
Superintendent. The want of this desirable addition to the machine- 
ry of the system, has been long felt. The proposition would have 
been submitted to the Legislature, in the annual report of the last 
year, had it not been for the then excited state of political feeling. 
The Superintendent did not wish to incur upon himself, and through 
him, upon the system, the suspicion which he knew the recklessness 



44 

oF party spirit would soon arouse, that the paper might be made the 
instrument of party purposes. No such risk now exists, and the re- 
commendation being made at the present juncture, shows that he 
confidently believes that the paper will never be thus debased. 

The advantages of the measure are so obvious, a% scarcely to 
need a statement. However^ among them, and for the information 
of such ►! are not acquainted with the minute detail of the Su- 
perintendent's duty, may be named the following : 

It will introduce perfect uniformity into the various operations 
of the system, in every department and in every distiict. livery 
decision made, instruction given, or advice offered by the Superin- 
tendent, v/iM be known and have its effect in all the districts, instead 
of one merely, as under the existinji practice of transmitting it 
to only one district, by letter. Each can thus be applied all over 
the S\ate. In addition to this, the Superintendent will be more 
careful in his decisions and other official act?, when he knows they 
are ail to be published, and to have general efwct. When he now 
mpkes a decision, only intended to be known in one district, it is 
almost iinpossibl-e for him entirely to escape being influenced by 
the local circumstances of the case. This tendency will be wholly 
corrected by the knowledge, that the opinion, in each particular 
case, is to be promulgated as tiie general law of the system, in all 
cases involving like principles. 

It will save Directors, and other local officers, much of their 
present labor and perplexity, and diminish the labor of the Superin^ 
tendent. Several cases almost daily reach him, precisely similar 
to each other in principle. One decision would settle them all, if 
published in the manner proposed, and vvould probably prevent all 
applications of the same kind, from other districts. 

It will enable the Superintendent to lay before the whole number 
of districts, any information, hovv'ever slightly important, wiiich 
he may at any time ihink proper to communicate. At present, 
this can only be done by means of circular letters, which are so 
uncertain, troublesome and expensive, as to be only resorted to on 
very pressing occasions. 

It will enable him to bring the experience and knowledge of other 
States, and parts of the world, to the aid of the System of this 
State, and will thus render our system more perfect. 

It will enable him to present to the officers of the system, and 
to teachers and parents, much interestingand valuable information 
on subjects connected with public Instruction, science and Litera- 
ture. 

It will decrease the postage account of the system to one fourth 
vf its present amount. It is now about $1,500 annually. The 
only letters which will be sent, if the measure be adopted, from the 
Superintendent's office, will be those containing the orders for State 
appropriations, which include scarcely a tenth of the whole postage 
on those now sent. The number received will also be laigelv re- 



45 

cIrrceJ, because the general publication of each decision, advice 
a!7(i instruction, will meet all similar cases, without further appli- 
cation to the superintendent. 

It will reduce to almost nothing, the annual expense of miscel- 
laneous printing. No circular letters will be required — tio separate 
forms for reports, nor instructions, for these can all be insert- 
ed in the "Assistant," and copied thence for use, bj the several 
Secretaries. The bill for common school printing, now averages 
about $500 aanually. 

It will also save the State a Lrge sum annually, in the item of 
printing the annual report of the SuperintendetJt, for distribution- 
by the Legislature, say five thousand dollars. That document can 
now be annually inserted in the "Assistant," and, being thus widely 
circulated, no extra nunvber will be required by either House. 

These last considerations, completely remO'Ve the only plausible 
objection — that of expense. The saving to the State wilt be fully 
8r,000 a year, little more than one-third of which sum will defray 
the whole cost. But so strongly convinced is the Superintendent 
of the propriety of the measure, that he would unheS'itatingly re- 
commend it, even if the increased annual expense were five thou- 
sand dollars. 

If authorized to be published, the selection of the printer of 
the "Assistant," ought to be entrusted to the Superintendent. The 
intimate relation, and frequent intercourse which must necessarily 
subsist beeween them, "»yould reader it exceedingly unpleasant for 
the Superintendent to be forced into connexion with a [lerson not 
perfectly agreeable to him. 'Die due performance of the duty, also 
makes it proper that he should have the full and perfect control of 
the paper. 

It will be perceived that the section under consideration, does not 
contemplate a separation of the offices of Secretary of the Com- 
monwealth and Superintendent. The peculiar position of the pre- 
sent Superintendent, forbarle him to depart, in the bill, from the 
existing arrangement. He feeU compelled, however, to give it as 
his clear and deliberate opinion, that the public good, and the con- 
venience and utility of botii ofUces, will be promoted by the sepa- 
ration. The Secretary of the Commonwealth may, by unremitted 
application and industry, perform the duties of boch stations, in 
such a manner as to avoid neglecting any of the ordinary demands 
of either. But not to neglect any of his ordinary duties is far short 
of what the system requires, and the public ought to receive from 
the Superintendent. He ought to have time, also, to read, to thmk, 
to converse, to correspond, and to travel, for the purpose of fully 
preparing himself to discharge the high and important functions of 
his station. He should nut be compelled, as is now the case, to 
enileavor to reply to the greatest possible number of letters, in a 
given time, or to delegate the duties of one office, in order to make 
time to discharge those of the other. His whole time and his whole 



sTimd should be devoted to the momentous trust committed tohim.- 
Above all, he should not be made party to the exciting questions 
of a political character, which so often and so unavoidably claim 
the attention of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. 

XVI. Confirming and Repealing Sections. 

Sects. 66 and 67, are taken from the fifteenth and eighteenth 
sections of the School law of 1836, and from the usual concluding 
sections of similar acts. They are intended to confirm whatever 
has been done under preceding Common School laws, but at the 
same time, by repealing thetn all so far as they relate to Common 
Schools, hereafter to have the whole law on the subject in one act. 
This will add much to the convenience of directors and others. 
The repealing section is so worded as not to interfere with the 
existing appropriations to Academies, Female Seminaries and Col- 
leges, which are given by the School law of 1838. And the con- 
firming section prevents the appropriation by the Bank of the 
United States, and the tax on dividends payable by other corpora- 
tions fcr the use of the system, from being affected. The right of 
tlie city and county of Philadelphia, to receive their due portion 
of State appropriation as heretofore, also remain unimpaired. 

Sect. 68, will explain itself. 



The bill thus explained, it is believed, embraces in its different 
sections all the existing provisions of the several acts on the 
subject of education, so far as they relate to Common Schools. 
The remarks expressly refer to all those sections, except the twen- 
tieth of that of 1836, and the sixteenth, seventeenth, twentieth and 
twenty-first of that of 1838, which, having been merely temporary 
m their nature, are now obsolete. The nineteenth of the act of 
1836, relative to the schools in the city of Lancaster, is also now 
obsolete, that city having, under the special legislation of last ses- 
sion, adopted the Common School System. 

The act of 2d April, 1831, entitled "An act providing for the 
establishment of a General System of Education," which created 
the Common School fund of the State, is not affected by the provi- 
sions of this bill. 



47 



BEMxlRKS OH 



' It is not deemed requisite nor proper to extend these pages by- 
remarks either in favor or explanation of the object of this bill. 
The task was attempted to be performed in the annual report of 
the superintendent, to the legislature at its last session. To the 
second and third divisions of that document, the members are re- 
spectfully referred for his views at length on the subject. Neither 
the experience nor reflection of the past year have presented any 
reason for changing the opinions then expressed. On the contra- 
ry, they are confirmed, and if there by any opinion in which he 13 
free from ail doubt, it is :' that the system must prepare its own 
teachers in its own teachers seminaries at the public expense. This 
opinion is attempted at some length to be enforced in the report 
alluded to 

Respectfully submitted by 

THQ. H. BURROWES, 

Superintendent of Common Schools. 
Secretary's Office, \ 
Harrisburg, Jan. 14, 1839.3 



4S 



igulations for Common School Districts. 



PART FIRST. 

General District Regulations. 

I. DiKECTORS AND THEIR MEETINGS. 

1. The Board of Directois will meet regularly on the last Satur- 
day in March, June, September and December, at the house of 

at 10 o'clock A. ;V5., for the transaction of business, of 
which teachers, parents and all others liaving business with the 
Board, wdl take notice. 

2. When other meetings are necessary they shall be held by call 
of the President, (of which each member shall receive one week's 
written notice from the Secretary,) or by adjournment from a pre- 
vious meeting, at such time and place as the notice or adjournment 
shall specify. 

3. At the regular meetinj^ in March, annually, the President, Se- 
cretary, Treasurer and Collector for the ensuing year will be chosen; 
the two former of whom shall, and the two latter shall not, be mem- 
bers of the Board. 

4. Not less than/owr members shall constitute a quorum for the 
transaction of business,. and if the President or Secietary, or both, 
be absent, a President or Secretary pro tempore shall be chosen by 
the members present. 

5. The whole proceedings of each meeting shall be entered on 
the minutes before the adjournment thereof, and shall be read aloud 
by the Secretary and signed by the acting President and Secre- 
tary. 

6. No motion can be adopted unless by the votes of three mem- 
bers when only four or five are present, or by the votes q^ four 
members in a full board of six. But if less than/owr members are 
present, no business can be legally transacted, except that of ad- 
journment till some other day. 

7. The District Treasurer shall attend, if possible, at the four 
regular meetings of the Board, in order to make known the state 
of the funds, to be informed of the probable drafts on him previous 
to the next meeting, and to ascertain the proportion of funds set 
apart for each school or primary district. 



II. Tax, Tax meetings, <k;c. 

1. Tlie amount of ordinary tax for tlie year shall be fixed at the 
reguhir meeting next before the first Monday in May, annually, 
and the yeas and nays shall be calltd on all questions of tax, and 
shall be entered on the minutes. 

2. When the question of additional tax is to be submitted to the 
people, the Board shall a5;ree upon some certain sum, exclusive ot 
the amount which may be by law levied by the Directors them- 
selves, which shall be granted or refused by the people in this 
manner: — Each voter in favor ot the additional tax shall write the 
sum required by the Directors on the inside ot his ticket, and the 
word 'nax" on the outside; and each person opposed to the addi- 
tional tax, shall insert the words "no additional tax" on the inside 
of his ticket, and the word "tax" on the outside, and the majority 
shall rule as in other cases. 

3. At the election to decide the question of additional tax, the 
President or in his absence, some other member of the Board, shall 
act as Inspector, two qualified voters chosen by the citizens present 
shall be Judges, and the Secretary, or in his absence some other 
member (jf the Board, shall act as Clerk. 

4. The assessment of the tax, both ordinary and additional, shall 
be completed, and the duplicate and warrant for collection shall be 
placed in the hands of the District Collector on or before the first 
day of June, annually. 

5. The Collector shall not be required to collect the school tax 
sooner than the money may be actually needed, for the expenses 
of the district, so that the citizens may not be unduly pressed in 
the payment, 

6. In order to afford the tax payers the longest possible time 
for payment, the whole amount of State appropriation for the year, 
and all balances remaining from former years, shall be applied to 
the expenses of the district, before the proceeds of tax is applied. 

III. Establishment and Disconxijiuance of Schools, 
Location and use of School hoxjses, &cc. 

1. A new school shaW he established, whenever it is proved to 
the Board, that not less than forty [or thirty or twenty, as the case 
may be,] children are without reasonable and convenient opportu- 
nity of instruction, and when the establishment of such school will 
not reduce the duration of teaching, in the other established schools, 
to less than six months in the year. 

2. Whenever it is proposed to establish a new school, the citi- 
zens within its bounds, shall be invited to build and furnish the 
house by private contribution, or at least to contribute partly there- 
to, with the understanding, that if they do not, the cost of the 
house, or the balance of it, shall be deducted from the rateable 
portion of the district funds, coming to their school or primary 

4 



50 

district, before actual common school instruction can be commen- 
ced. 

S. The establishment of a certain number of schools in a district 
shall not be taken to amount to a division of it into, sub or primary 
districts. Sub-division can only take place by express resolution 
of the Board to that effect, entered on the minutes," and setting 
forth the bonnds of each primary district as such. 

4. To prevent disputes about the locating of school houses, the 
following mode will in all cases be adopted : The Board will ap- 
point four citizens, resident within the bounds of the school, or of 
the primary district in question, but at the opposite and most distant 
extremes thereof, who, with a member of the Board appointed for 
that purpose by the Board., but not resident within the bounds or 
primary district, shall determine the place at which the house shall 
be built ; and their decision shall be reported to the Board, entered 
on the minutes, and shall be final. 

5. If the number of regular attending pupils in any full primary 
district or school, shall at any time be reduced to fifteen, the 
same shall be reported by the teacher or any tax payer, to the com- 
mittee, or, if there be no committee, to the nearest Director, who 
shall put up six written notices, at least two weeks before the end 
of the current quarter, at public places, within the proper bounds, 
that the school will be closed at the end of the quarter, unless the 
number of attendent pupils be permanently increased to twenty- 
five for thirty or thirty- five, as the case may be,] before the end of 
the quarter, which shall be specified. And if such increase do not 
take place, the school shall be discontinued altogether, or for the 
season, as the Board may determine. 

6. The school houses of the district shall not be used ^ox public 
meetings, singing schools, religious worship, ^'c, without the con- 
sent of a majority of (he proper committee, or of the Board of Di- 
rectors if there be no committee. 

IV. Distribution of School Fund. 

1. £11 the funds of the district, whether derived from State ap- 
propriations, district tax, or other sources, shall be subject to one 
afid the same rule of distribution. 

2. Each school or primary district, having not less than thirty, 
for twenty-five or twenty, as the case may be,] and not more than 
tifty pupils attending or desirous of attending school, shall be coun- 
ted one full school ; each having less than the foregoing minimum 
number, shall be accounted a hcr/f or three-fourths of a school, in 
proportion to its deficiency ', and each having more than the max- 
imum number, shall be accounted one and a fourth, one and a 
half, one and three-fourths, or a double school, in proportion to its 
excess of pupils. The schools [or primary districts,] being thus 
proportioned, and the numbers and fractions of all being added 
tof^ether, the whole number thus produced, shall form the divisor, 



Si 

tli'C whole amount of funds to be distributed the dividend, and the 
quotient or result, shall be the share of each school or district ac- 
counted as one full school ; and the others shall receive more or 
less than a full share, in proportion to their fractional excess or 
deaciency, as previously determined. 

3. No established school [or primary district,] shall be denomi- 
nated less than a half school, iior shall any be denominated more 
than a double school. 

4. The distributive share of any school £or primary district,] 
shall not be applied to the purposes of instruction until the cost 
of the school house be defrayed, or some definite arrangement 
.made for its gradual payment, by annual instalments out of the 
future share of the school or primary district, or from some other 
certain source^ 

v. Primary Committee. 

1. Whenever a district is laid oiF into primary districts, the 
•citizens of each shall be called on by at least six public notices, 
.signed by the President and Secretary, and put up at least two 
•weeks previous to the election, to elect three resident taxable citi- 
zens, of the primary district, to act as the primary committee. 
A return of which election shall be made in writing, by the offi- 
cers thereof, [who shall be an Inspector and Clerk, chosven by 
the citizens present,] to the President or Secretary of the Board. 

2. The primary committee first elected, shall continue in office 
i\\\ the last Saturday of the currant school year, on vvhich day, 
.annually, their successors shall be elected, to serve one year, on 
jiotice put up by the out-going committee, for two weeks at six 
places. 

3. The primary committee shall have charge and control of the 
■school building; shall make all repairs to it, subject to the direc- 
tion of the Board ^ and shall provide fueU 

4. They shall have power to grant or refuse the use of the school 
blouse to the citizens of the primary district for public purposes. 

5. They shall select and nominate to the Board of Directors, a 
teacher for their school, who shall be appointed by the Board, if 
iupon examination he or she shall appear to be a proper and compe- 
tent person for the station. 

6. They shall, with the concurrence of the Board, butiiot other- 
wise, fix the salary of the teacher, which they shall certify in wri- 
ting to the President, to be entered on the minutes. But if they 
and the Board cannot agree, or if the Board deem it advisable to 
have uniform salaries in the district, then the Board alone shall fix 
the amount. 

7. They shall, either together or in turn separately, visit the 
school at least once each week while in operation. 

S- And they shall do and perform all such acts and duties &s 



52 

mdtj be enjoined on them in writing, by the proper Board, for the 
good of the school. 

VL Of Teachers — Examination, Qualifications, Duties, &c, 

1. No person shall be employed as teacher of a primary common 
school, unless first examined and approved by a comnaittee of the 
Board, or other persons specially appointed for that purpose by the 
Directors, except teachers from otner districts,, producing unques- 
tionable certificates of examination and competency from the Board 
of, such districts. 

2. Each teacher of a primary com'mon school shall be compe- 
tent to give sound instruction in Orthography, Reading, Grammar^ 
Geography^ History, Writing, Arithmetic and Book K-eeping. 

3. The teacher shall be one qualified to give instruction in the 
German as well as the English langijagey whenever a majority of 
the parents and guardians of the chddren wlm actually attend the 
school requirert, and when such a teacher can be obtained. 

4. The contract with each teacher shaiU be in writing, between 
him or her and the President of the Board and his successors. 

5. The contract shall be at a fi^xed sum per months for the whole 
time during which tlie funds of the district will authorize the 
Board to keep the school open in the year, but shall contain a con- 
dition, that the Board may, at the end of any month, dismiss the 
teacher for incompetency, n-eglect of duty, cruelty, or immoral 
conduct. 

6. No teacher shall be employedTnortbe nomination of a teacher 
by|a committee confirmed, except by the votes of a majority of the 
whole Board. 

7. No teacher shall receive any compensation from parents or 
guardians in addition to that paid by the district. 

8. Twenty-four full days teaching shall coBstitute the teacher'^s 
month, and sevtnty-tim days the quarter. 

9. Assistant teachers shall be under the control and direction of 
the principal teacher of the school in whicfe they are employed. 

VII. Visitations — Monthly Report — Examinationsv 

1. The Board of Directors shall be divided into three eiasses — ' 
two in each class — for visitation. The first cJass shall visit the- 
scholars du^ring the first month of the quarter, the second during: 
the second, and the third during the third.^ The two visitors for 
the month shall attend at each school together, and it shall be 
their duty to visit every school in the Distri-ct at least once in eacb 
month, 

2. Each class of visiting directors shall report the result of their 
obsei vatioiis in the schools^ to the Board, at their regular quarter- 
ly .^aeetings, m writing, according to a form' to be a^eed oaby the 



53 

Board, which shall be read by the Secretary, and filed with the 
minutes. 

3. in case the Visitors' reports agree in exhibiting a want of pro- 
gress, order or uselulness in a school, it shall be the duty of the 
Board forthwith to examine into the matter, and apply the proper 
remedy; and if the Teacher's incompetency or misconduct be the 
cause, to dismiss him at the end of his current month. 

4. There shall be two general and public Examinations of the 
schools, by all the Directors, in each year, during the week previous 
to the vacations, if there be two, or if only one, then there shall be 
one general examination during the week previous to the discontin- 
uance of teaching for the season. The result of each examination 
shall be entered on the minutes of the Board. 

5. Six citizens of the District shall be selected by the Board, as 
examiners with the Directors at the public examinations. 

VIII. Duty of Parents and Guardians, 

1. Parents and guardians are expected to send theirchildren and 
wards early to school, so that the business of the whole may not be 
interrupted and their own time wasted by irregularity, 

2. They will consult the good of their children and v/ards by 
compelling their attendance every dny, for when children are 
taught in classes, the loss even of one day cannot be subsequently 
retrieved. 

3. When they are compelled by unavoidable circumstances to 
detain their children or wards from school, they will furnish tiiem 
at their next attendance vvith a written excwse for such absence, 
witliout which, it will be the Teacher's duty to punish the pupils as 
if they had been absent without leave. 

4. They will send their children or wards to school with clean 
faces and hands, hair combed, and as decently apparelled as cir- 
cumstances will permit. 

5. They will not send their children or wards to school while 
laboring under any infections or contagious disease; if they do, it 
will be the Teacher's duty to exclude ihcm till a cure be effected, 

6. They will not be permitted at any time to interfere with the 
government or discipline of the school, but if they have any fault 
to find they shall make it known to the Committee, or nearest 
Director. 

7. Complaints against a Teacher are to be made to the proper 
comnsittee of the school, if there be one, who shall examine into the 
facts and report them to the next meeting of the Board for their de- 
cision, or to the nearest Director if there be no committee, who shall 
report to the Board. But no complaint from a pupil, except through 
his or her parent or guardian, shall be regarded. 

8. Parents and guaidians will be held accountable to the Board 
for any wilful injury done to the school house, the school room. 



54 

fnrnrture, or books and apparatus belongvRg to it, by their childceo 
or wards. 

IX. Admission, Registry and Expulsion of Pupils. 

1. New scholars shall onl}' be admitted on tl^e first Monday of 
each month. But parents will promote the usefulness of the sch<»ols 
and the welfare ot their children, if they send them only on the first 
Monday ot the quarter. 

3. No pupils shall be admitted unless resident within the pri- 
mary district to which the school belongs, and if the District have 
not been regularly sub-divided, no scholar shall be admitted living 
out of the bounds assigned to the school by the Board ,♦ and in case 
the Teacher of the school have doubts as to the admissibility of 
applicantSy he shall admit them till the opinion of the nearest Di- 
rector can be obtained, who shall decide the case, till it can be 
finally settled at the next meeting of the Board. 

3. The Teacher of eaeh school shall enter the name, age and 
advancement in learning of each pupil admitted, in a book provided 
for that purpose, keeping a separate list for each. He shall also 
note the withdrawals, suspensions, and expulsions-, with the rea- 
sons therefor ; which book shall be open to the inspection of the 
Directors, and of parents and <;uardians. 

4. If any pupil become refractory, or indulge in practices sub- 
versive of the harmony and discipline of the school, the teacher 
shall, with the consent of the nearest resident Director, suspend 
such pupil from attendance till the next visit of the Directors, and 
if, upon investigation, the visiting Directors find good and continu- 
ing cause for so doing, they shall confirm the suspension till the next 
quarterly meeting of the Board. 

5. Absolute expulsion from the schools shall only be made by 
the vote of the Board of Directors at a regular meeting, and shall 
only deprive of right of admission for the current school year. 

X. Religious tenets of Pupils.. 

1. The religious predilections of pupils and their parents or 
guardians shall be sacredly respected. 

2. No catechism, creed, confession, or manual of faith, shall be 
used as a school book nor admitted into the school ; sectarian in- 
struction not being the province of the school master, but of the 
parent or guardian, and the spiritual teacher selected by him. 



55 

PART SECOND. 

Internal RegulaLions of the Schools. 

I. Discipline, Punishments and Reports. 

1. It shall be ihe duty of the Teacher to bestow equal and im- 
partial attention on all children placed under his or her care. 

2. The Teacher shall be undeviating in adherence to a firm, uni- 
form and moderate system of discipline. 

3. The Teacher shall pay most especial regard to the morals, 
habits and general behaviour, as well as to the mental instruction of 
his pupils. 

4. The punishments to be inflicted by the Teacher, shall be, 1st. 
Reading aloud the rule violated. 2d. Insertion of the offender's name 
under the head of " bad conduct," in the Monitor's book. 3d. 
Private and public admonition. 4th. Detention after school hours. 
5lh. Special reports or complaints to parents or guardians. 6th. 
The rod. 

5. The rod shall be applied whenever, in the Teacher'sjudgment, 
it shall be necessary ; when used it shall be inflicted with certainty 
and etfect ; but passion or cruelty in its application shall be avoided. 

6. The Teacher shall report to the Board, not hastily nor on slight 
grounds, but as a last resort, the names and offences of all refractory 
or unmanageable pupils, that they may be admonished, suspended or 
expelled. 

7. In case of any sudden difficulty in the school beyond the Tea- 
cher's power of arrangement, he shall call in tlie Committee, or 
nearest Director, whose decision shall be binding till the next meet- 
ing of the Board, to which the matter shall be reported for final de- 
cision. 

8. Each Teacher shall report in writing, and in tabular form to the 
Board, through one of its members, on the last Saturday of each 
month, the number of pupils at the commencement of the month; 
tire number of new admissions, with their names and ages ; the 
whole number of days attendance by each ; the whole number at 
the end of the month; the number studying each branch; the conduct 
and progress of each pupil, and the general condition of the school. 

II. Rules duking School Hours. 

I. Each pupil must arrive at the school precisely at the time ap- 
pointed for commencing the exercises, or be punished and reported 
to the Board. 



56 

2. On entering the school house, hats and bonnets (and cloaks and 
coats in the winter) are to be hung up at the appointed place ; and 
feet are to be carefully cleaned at the door. 

3. Each scholar is to proceed at once to his or her seat, after sa- 
luting the Teacher in a respectful manner. 

4. No speaking, whispering or scraping with the feet on the floor 
is to be permitted. 

5. No scholar is to leave his or her seat except when called by the 
Teacher, or when going to speak to the Teacher. 

6. When a class is called up to recite, each member is to proceed 
with as little noise and confusion as possible to his or her proper 
place in the class, and is to stand erect and still during recitation. 

7. When the exercises are changed from writing to arithmetic, 
from arithmetic to reading, Szc, no unnecessary noise is to be made 
in putting away books, slates, &c. 

8. No pupil is to complain of another without going to the Teach- 
er's desk for that purpose ; and if complaint be made without good 
reason, the complainant is to be punished in the same manner as the 
person complained of would have been, if the complaint had been 
well founded. 

9. Before dismission, bjth at noon and in the evening, books, 
slates, &c. , not required to betaken iiome, shall be put away in their 
proper places. 

10. The pupils shall be dismissed by classes, and each class on 
being named by the Teacher, shall quietly and speedily leave their 
seats, take their books and hats, salute the Teacher, and leave the 
room. 

11. No pupil shall delay near the school house after dismission for 
the d;iy, nor on the vvay home. 

12. The pupils are expected to show by their respectful salutation 
of strangers whom they meet on the way from and to home, that they 
are acquiring civility as well as knowledge at school. 

13. All quarrelling ot figliling, vulgar, profane or disrespectful 
language or conduct, either in school, during intermission, or on the 
way to and h'om school, will be severely punished. 

14. Cutting desks, heiiches, or window sills, breaking windows, 
or scribbling and drawing on the walls, injuring the plaster or floor, 
or uny other d^ininges to ttie building, either within or without, must 
be avoided, or if committed will be severely punished. 

15. The slightest approach to /«/scAooc/ and dishonesly wiW he 
most severely pnnisht^d as offences which, if they become habitual, 
must wholly unfit their unfortunate and guilty subjects for decent and 
safe society. 

16 Each pupil convicted uf falsehood or dishonesty shall cut the 
wodd. or bring in the coal, m;dve the flies and carry the water for 
one week. 

17. ' laying' truant shall be most severely punished, the truant 
being guWiy oi deception, idlenesss and waste oi time combined; each 



57 

truant shall, in addition to other punishments, sweep the schoolroom 
during the noon recess, every day for one week. 

III. Hours of Instruction — Rolls — Intermissions and Va- 
cations. 

1. The hours of instruction shall be from 8 till 12 in the forenoon, 
and from 2 till 5 in the afternoon, from the first of April till the 1st of 
October, and from 9 till 12 in the forenoon, and 1 tiil 4 in the after- 
noon, during the rest of the year. 

2. The roll shall be called by the Teacher precisely at the minute 
of opening school in the fore and afternoon, and all late attendances 
shall be noted by the Monitor. The absences shall also be noted 
before dismission at noon and in the evening. 

3. No pupil shall be permitted to go out of the school room du- 
ring the hours of study, without the Teacher's permission; nor 
shall two pupils be out at the same time. 

4. Pupils who do not go home for dinner, shall continue during 
intermission near the school-house, and every act of ill conduct 
committed during intermission, shall be punished as if it had been 
committed during school hours. 

5. The school shall be closed on the afternoon of every Saturday. 

6. The vacations shall be two iveeks from the Monday next before 
Christmas, and/owr weeks from the first Monday in August. There 
shall be no school on the fourth of July; but no other holyday or 
vacation shall be granted v/ithout express vote of the Directors. 

IV. Classes. 

■" 1. As soon as practicable the Teacher shall classify all the pupils. 
There shall not be more than twelve in one class of any particular 
branch of study. 

2. Pupils only whose advance in any particular study is nearly 
similar, shall be embraced in the same class. 

3. The classes in each branch shall be designated numerically, 
the lowest in attainment being called the^Vs^ as ihQ first class in 
reading, the second class in reading, the third class in reading, &c., 
thejirst class in grammar, &c. 

4. Promotions from lower classes to higher shall take place on 
Mondays, and shall be made by the Teacher; they shall be pub- 
licly announced to the school on the preceding Saturday as a reward, 
of raeiit and a mark of the Teacher's approbation. 

5. P^ach pupil, who, in the regular' order of the class, answers a 
question missed by the pupil or pupils above him or her, shall take 
the place of the pupil who first failed to answer. 

6. The members of the same class shall not be required to sit 
together in school. 

7. Pupils absent from one or more recitations, shall loose their 
places in the class and go to the foot. 



58 

P. Males and females may be placed in the same class, if the 
number of one sex qualified for the particular class, be not sufficient 
to fill it. 

V. School-books and Studies. 

1. School books, paper, slates. Sic, shall be furnished by the 
parents or guardians of the scholars; and the books shall be uni- 
form, and of the following kinds till otherwise directed : 

Spelling Books: — 
Reading Books: — 
Grammars: — 
Geographies: — 
Histories : — 
Arithmetics : — * 

2. The Old and New Testaments, containing the best extant 
code of morality, in simple, beautiful and pure language, shall be 
used as a school book for Heading, without comment by the Teach- 
er, but not as a text book for religious discussion. 

3. All pupils having the kind of books directed by the foregoing 
rules, shall be classified, and shall be called on to re.c\it first. 

4. All pupils not provided with the proper kind of books direct- 
ed by the Board, shall not be classed nor called on to recite till 
the uniform classes shall have recited. 

5. No books whatever except those actually used for instruction 
shall be permitted in school. 

6. The black board and slate shall be frequently and generally 
made use of in the study of Arithmetic and Geography. 

7. The course of studies shall be such as may be calculated to 
impart a plain and sound business education. 

8. The same course of studies shall be pursued in the schools of 
the same grade by all the pupils of the same advancement in learn- 
ing without distinction; and no pupil shall be admitted ior the pur- 
pose of studying any one particular branch, except by express vote 
of the Directors. 

VI. Order of Exercise. 
1. The order of exercises shall be as follows, viz : 
In the Forenoon — 

The Alphabet classes in their order, beginning with the first. 
The Spelling classes in their order. 
The Reading classes in their order. 
The Grammar classes in their order. 
The Geography classes in their order. 

The half hour next before intermission at noon to be devoted to 
Penmanship. 



59 

In the Afternoon — 

The Alphabet classes in their order. 
The Spelling classes in their order. 
The Reading classes in their order. 
The History classes in their order. 

The hour next before dismission for the day, to be devoted to 
Arithmetic and Book-keeping. 

2. Each memberof the Alphabet and of the Spelling and Reading 
classes, who does not belong to any other class, is to receive at least 

Jour lessons in the day, viz: Two in the forenoon and two in the 
afternoon. The secoad lesson in the forenoon may be given while 
the larger pupils are engaged in Vt'riting, and in the afternoon while 
they are studying Arithmetic: or if the Teacher's time will not ad- 
mit of this arrangement, one of the larger pupils may be designated 
to give two of their lessons, but the other two must be received 
from the Teacher personally. 

3. If the time of the Teacher will not admit of a daily lesson to 
all the pupils in Geography and History, they may be dispensed 
with, except on Tuesdays and Thursdays, on which days the lesson 
in Grammar may be omitted. 

4. Saturdays shall be devoted to reviews or repetitions of a.\\ the 
lessons committed to memory during the week ; no new lessons of 
that kind, nor Writing and Arithmetical exercises shall be required 
on that day. But Alphabet, Spelling and Reading pupUs shall be 
attended to in the same manner as during the forenoon of any other 
day. 

VII. Seats. 

1. Each pupil shall have a seat assigned him or her by the 
Teacher, adapted to his or her size and age. 

2. The boys and girls are to be separated from each other. 

3. No exchange of seats is to take place between scholars without 
the Teacher's permission. 

4. Absence from school without leave, or without written ex- 
cuse from parent or guardian, will forfeit a seat, which may in 
such case, be assigned by the Teacher to some other pupil if he 
think proper ; and the pupil thus forfeiting his or her seat shall be 
compelled to sit on the lowest seat, or to stand, if there be none to 
accommodate him or her, till the next entry day, or till one becomes 
vacant. 

VIII. Sweeping School-room, Making Fires, &c. 

1. Each of the female pupils of all the highest classes, shall for 
one day, in turn and in alphabetical order, sweep the school room, 
dust the desks, and arrange the seats, during noon intermission, 
except when performed, as a punishment, by a truant. 



60 

2. Each of the male pupils of all the highest classes shall, for 
one day, in turn and in alphabetical order, prepare and bring in 
the fuel, make the fire, and carry the water, except when perform- 
ed as a punishment fov falsehood or dislionesty. 

3. A sufficiency of fuel shall be left in the school room by the 
person whose duty it is for the day, to enable the Teacher to kindle 
the fire next morning with as little trouble as possible. 

4. In schools consisting exclusively of males or exclusively of 
females, the members of the highest classes in each branch, shall 
sweep the room, arrange the desks, &;c., and those of the next shall 
attend to the fires and carry the water, in alphabetical order. 

5. Each pupil shall put away such of his or her books, slate, 
copy-books, &c. , as are not to be taken home, in their proper places, 
and arrange his or her desk in a proper manner, before dismissal at 
noon and in the evening, to accomplisli which, the teacher shall 
give the word "-arrange your desks^^ before dismission. 

6. The Teacher shall have the control of the temperature of the 
room, and of its ventilation, which he will regulate according to the 
Thermometer provided by the Board, taking care not to allow the 
Mercury to rise above 70 degrees nor fall below 60 degrees Fah- 
renheit, in the winter. 

IX. Monitors. 

1. To promote observance of the foregoing rules, and to assist in 
maintaining the discipline of the school, a monitor shall be appoint- 
ed each week. 

£. The monitors shall be members of the highest classes in 
Grammar, Geography, History, and Arithmetic ; the members of 
which classes shall serve in alphabetical order, unless when for bad 
conduct ihej shall be deprived of that privilege by the Teacher, 

3. The monitor shall keep a book ruled in columns under the 
following heads : Late attendance, Total absence, Lessons missed, 
and Bad conduct; and the name of each scholar ftuilty of any of 
those offences shall be entered under the proper head. 

4. The monitor's book shall be regularly kept, and the transac- 
tions of each day, both during the fore and afternoon, entered and 
dated ; and on Saturday the whole shall be read aloud by the monitor 
before dismission, signed by him and delivered to the Teacher. 

5. No pupil is to be entered in the Monitor's book for bad con- 
duct or lessons omitted, except by direction ot the Teacher. 

6. The Monitor is to call the Teacher's attention to all instances 
of bad conduct, but no other pupil is to do so, unless lor some in- 
jury to him or herself, in which casecomplamt is to be made at^the 
Teacher's desk. 



61 

X. Publication of the Rules. 

1. A copy of the rules shall be suspended in a conspicuous part 
of the school room, for the information of the pupils and others. 

2. They shall not be altered except with the consent of the 
Directors. 

S. They shall be read aloud by the Monitor of the week, every 
Monday morning immediately after roll call. 

4. When any pupil shall transgress any, even the least, of the 
rules, he or she shall be obliged by the Teacher or Monitor to 
stand up and (if able) read aloud the rule violated; if unable, it 
shall be read to him or her by the Monitor, that the like offence 
may not be committed again through ignorance. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 312 276 7 



